Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to 50 Months in Federal Prison

Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced Friday to 50 months in federal jail following his conviction on prostitution charges.

Combs, who turned a career as a music producer into a portfolio of businesses worth a billion dollars, was convicted on July 2 after prosecutors said he coerced women into sexual encounters with male escorts. 

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said Friday that he wanted to send a message that “exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.” He set a fine of $500,000 — the maximum allowed.

A jury found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution after deliberating for nearly 14 hours. He was found not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering.

The prostitution-related conviction alone carried a maximum sentence of 10 years for each charge. Federal prosecutors asked the judge for a sentence of 11 years, and Combs’s defense team asked for a sentence of 14 months.

Days before Friday’s sentencing, Subramanian denied a request from Combs’ legal team to toss out the convictions and grant a new trial. 

During the sentencing, prosecutors informed the judge that Combs had already scheduled a speaking engagement in Miami next week. 

The 55-year-old will remain in federal jail. In a letter to the judge before the sentencing, Combs wrote: “My domestic violence will always be a heavy burden that I will have to forever carry.”

Jurors heard testimony from nearly three dozen witnesses during the nearly two-month trial, including former employees and associates of Combs. Jurors also viewed 2016 surveillance footage where Combs attacked and dragged his then-girlfriend, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, across a hotel hallway carpet.

In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Ventura wrote: “If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe.”

“Although I can hope for justice and accountability, I have come to not trust anything,” she added. “I hope that your decision considers the truths at hand that the jury failed to see.”

Federal investigators in New York accused Combs of transforming Bad Boy Records, the label he founded in 1993, into a criminal enterprise. The indictment alleged sex trafficking, arson, and both emotional and physical abuse. He was indicted by a grand jury in September 2024 and has remained in federal custody since, following multiple unsuccessful attempts to post a $50 million bond.

Combs’ defense team opted not to present a case, but made at least two failed petitions for a mistrial — once citing prosecutorial misconduct. The judge denied both requests.

Included in the trial’s testimony were accounts from Ventura, and an unidentified woman, who said they were in an exclusive romantic relationship with Combs at different times. Both described being coerced into traveling across the country to participate in group sex acts that prosecutors said involved drugs and alcohol. These encounters — referred to in court as “Freak Offs” — were recorded on video. Prosecutors played excerpts of the recordings for jurors during the trial.

During the trial’s first week, Ventura — the prosecution’s lead witness — took the stand. Her 2023 lawsuit, which accused Combs of rape and coercion, is widely believed to have triggered the federal investigation. She testified that the suit resulted in a $20 million settlement.

Ventura delivered much of her testimony through tears as she recounted her decade-long relationship with Combs. At the time, she was a 19-year-old aspiring singer from Connecticut, pursuing a career in music. Ventura, 39, is now married, and took the stand weeks before delivering her third child.

“I can’t carry this anymore. I can’t carry the shame, the guilt,” Ventura said during her testimony in May, explaining why she chose to testify against Combs. “What’s right is right. What’s wrong is wrong. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

She testified that Combs used recordings of intimate encounters involving her, himself, and others to threaten her after their relationship ended. She said that he threatened to release the footage when she began dating other men, including Scott Mescudi, known professionally as rapper Kid Cudi.

“He just wanted to hurt me,” Ventura said about Combs, according to trial testimony reported by multiple media outlets. “It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone.”

Weeks before prosecutors rested their case on June 27, a former romantic partner of Combs testified under the pseudonym “Jane” and discussed a series of text messages exchanged between the former couple. In one 2023 message, she wrote that she felt “obligated to perform these nights” with him “out of fear of losing the roof” over her head.

Capital B staff contributed to this report.

This story has been updated.

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