Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs are asking a federal judge to sentence him to just 14 months in prison on his prostitution convictions, saying “it is time for Mr. Combs to go home.”
In court filings late Monday, Diddy’s attorneys urged Judge Arun Subramanian to reject “draconian” requests from prosecutors and instead impose a “far lower sentence in this unique case,” where Combs was acquitted of more serious sex trafficking charges.
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The star is set for sentencing on October 3. Because of 13 months the star has already served in jail since he was arrested, a 14-month sentence would see him released almost immediately.
“Mr. Combs’s career and reputation have been destroyed,” his attorneys write. “He has served over a year in one of the most notorious jails in America — yet has made the most of that punishment. It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family, so he can continue his treatment and try to make the most of the next chapter of his extraordinary life.”
Sentencing recommendations from prosecutors are not yet public, but Diddy’s lawyers say they’re seeking a sentence of more than 20 years in prison – a request that his attorneys say would be “a perversion of justice” and suggests the government has “lost all perspective.”
“This is wildly out of proportion to the conduct at issue—threesomes where fully competent adult men and women voluntarily crossed state lines and had consensual sex with each other, and the defendant made no money from the conduct,” Combs’ attorneys write. “This draconian approach makes Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts seem benevolent.”
Combs was arrested and charged in September 2024 with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking violations over accusations that he ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating the freak-offs — elaborate events which he allegedly forced his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and other women to have sex with male escorts while he watched and masturbated.
Following a blockbuster trial this spring, jurors cleared Combs on the RICO and sex trafficking charges that could have seen him sentenced to prison for life. But he was still convicted on two other counts for transporting Ventura and others across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.
In Tuesday’s sentencing submission, Diddy’s lawyers say the judge must take into account that outcome – that he was cleared of the more serious charges he faced.
“The government accused Sean Combs of heinous crimes. It branded him an evil trafficker and racketeer who coerced and defrauded his girlfriends into having sex against their will. But none of that was true,” his lawyers write. “Put simply, the jury has spoken.”
