Key events
A wide range of sentences is on the table, as both prosecution and defense have made recommendations guided by federal sentencing rules, although the final decision belongs to the judge.
The government is urging no less than 135 months behind bars – that’s 11 years and three months – calling Combs “unrepentant” and highlighting violence and intimidation that witnesses described.
Defense lawyers are pressing for no more than 14 months, which with time already served would allow Combs to leave custody by the end of 2025. They argue that his punishment has already been sufficient for what they say was consensual sex with paid “entertainers.”
Probation officials, meanwhile, calculated that the guideline range could reach up to seven years and three months.
Sean Combs to be sentenced
Sean “Diddy” Combs will appear before a federal judge in Manhattan on Friday to be sentenced following his conviction earlier this year on federal prostitution-related charges.
Following the eight-week trial concluded in July, jurors cleared Combs of the most serious accusations; sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The jury did, however, convict him on two charges of transporting people for prostitution. Judge Arun Subramanian now holds the task of deciding the penalty. Proceedings are set to begin at 10am eastern time.
Combs was accused of pressuring two former partners into drug-laced sexual encounters involving hired escorts. A conviction on the most severe counts could have put him in prison for life.
When he was acquitted of those allegations, he dropped to his knees in prayer. His lawyer said he had “been given his life back”.
But the guilty verdicts he did receive still each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison under the Mann Act, which forbids crossing state lines to facilitate prostitution. Prosecutors describe the conduct as grave offenses, while the defense has dismissed the charges as “fallback” counts that never should have gone forward.
