Judge sentences Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to 4 years and 2 months in prison, citing history of abusing women

Sade Bess, a Combs fan from Brooklyn, left the overflow room looking both sad and relieved.

“It’s devastating to see a pioneer of the Black community’s legacy nearly diminished,” she said. “But the judge showed mercy by giving him a second chance, while still honoring the victims.”

“While nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs, the sentence imposed today recognizes the impact of the serious offenses he committed,” attorney Douglas Wigdor said in a statement. “We are confident that with the support of her family and friends, Ms. Ventura will continue healing knowing that her bravery and fortitude have been an inspiration to so many.”

Correction: This post has been updated with Wigdor’s statement issued Friday on the sentencing. The Associated Press previously erroneously published text from a statement Wigdor released after Combs was convicted in July, which was mistakenly sent to AP immediately after the sentencing.

The judge also imposed a $500,000 fine, and ordered five years of supervised release after he leaves prison.

Combs can appeal his convictions, of course, and his lawyers have said they will. They have 14 days to file notice.

Combs showed no visible change of emotion as he learned his sentence, sitting in his chair and looking straight ahead as the judge spoke. He remained subdued afterward and appeared dejected, with none of the enthusiasm and smiles that accompanied his interactions with lawyers and his family earlier in the day.

He also appeared somewhat worn out from a long day of sentencing arguments that seemed to drain him as time passed.

Throughout his trial and earlier in the day, he gave numerous gestures of encouragement to his family, including pats to his heart, a blown kiss to his mother and a thumbs up. But after he learned that he would spend over four years in prison, he turned to his mother and children among spectators and let out a sigh before telling them: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“We all have voices, but you have a megaphone,” the judge told Combs, saying he has a chance to show the world what “real accountability” and change can be. “I’m counting on you to make the most of your second chance,” the judge said.

Combs stood, adjusted his sweater, turned briefly to the gallery, and then sat back down at the defense table.

Subramanian said they shared “horrific stories, but stories of courage.”

“We heard you,” he added.

He singled out Cassie and “Jane,” and the other women who testified.

“I am proud of you for coming to the court to tell the world what really happened,” he said.

Combs’ psychological testimony and claims of being on the road to rehabilitation are “outweighed” by the significant trial record of evidence against him, the judge said.

He said the sentence proposed by the government — 135 months — was more than what’s necessary, and the defense’s proposal of 14 months would be insufficient.

He also said that the prosecution recommendation didn’t factor in mitigating factors, while the defense recommendation didn’t factor in aggravating factors.

“This is hard time in prison, away from your family, friends and community, but you will have a life afterward,” the judge told Combs.

Since Combs has served a year in prison already, this sentence means he would be released in about three years.

He rejected the defense’s argument that this was the byproduct of consensual sexual conduct and a celebrity musician’s lifestyle.

“You had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught. You paid for and organized these acts. You were no John. You were responsible for that, even if your currency was sexual desires and not money.”

Subramanian is excoriating Combs for his persistent violence, focusing part of his remarks on his assault on “Jane” just last year, which was after Combs knew he was under federal investigation.

A lengthy sentence, the judge said, is needed for deterrence. He said he’s unconvinced that if Combs is released these crimes won’t happen again.

The judge said he appreciates the discussion of the impact of a sentence on his family. He said he also appreciates that addiction “may have exacerbated your violent and erratic behavior over the years.”

All this said, “a history of good works can’t wash away the record of this case,” the judge said.

The evidence shows he abused and controlled women in his life, he said. “The evidence of abuse with respect to freak-offs and hotel nights is massive,” the judge said.

“I’ve considered the fact hat you are a self-made artist and businessman who has innovated, inspired and lifted up communities, including communities of color, worldwide,” the judge said.

It’s “especially impressive” given the early trauma of your father’s death, the judge told him.

Combs’ philanthropy, including building charter schools, is “commendable.” And the creation of the “Free Game with Diddy” curriculum at the Brooklyn jail is praiseworthy, he said.

“Mr. Combs, you’re being sentenced for the offenses of conviction, NOT the crimes he was acquitted of. However, under law, the court ‘shall consider’ the nature of the offense and characteristics of the defendant,” he said.

The judge also cited law which states that no limitation shall be placed on the “background, character and conduct” that a judge can consider.

Combs said his desire to tell his story and change others’ lives is not an effort to reduce his sentence. “This story is real. This story is tragic... I don’t have nothing else,” he said.

He thanked the jury, and thanked the judge for giving him the confidence to believe in the jury, so that he didn’t have to testify. He thanked the jurors for acquitting him on two charges that carry potential life sentences. As for the other charges, he told the judge “I don’t take lightly my Mann Act convictions.”

“I know the prosecution wants you to make an example of me. I just want you to think of making an example of what a person can do if they get another chance. If you give me another chance, I won’t let you down. And the evidence of that is those beautiful children that got up there and spoke for me.”

He then turned to his children, said he loves them, and told the judge he would never again jeopardize his chance to be with them.

“No matter what anyone says, I know I’m truly sorry for it all. Thank you, your honor,” he concluded.

“I have nobody to blame but myself. I know I’ll never put my hands on another person again. I know that I have learned my lesson,” Combs said. “And I take full accountability and responsibility.”

“I know that I have been changed for the better,” Combs told his sentencing judge.

“I can’t change the past but I can change the future. I ask your honor for mercy. I beg your honor for mercy. I ask your honor for a chance to be a father again... a son again... a leader in my community again... for a chance to get the help that I desperately need to be a better person because I don’t want to let God down, I don’t want to let my family down.”

Combs then said he’s willing to comply with any conditions the judge imposes when he’s released.

Going through all the people he’s failed, Combs touched on the disappointment his behavior has brought to Black people, a community he had sought to uplift.

“That was my mission. I got lost. I’m not this bad person. I’m sorry to my community for letting you all down.”

“I want your honor to know that, if given a chance, people can change. I know I’ve changed.”

And his voice broke as he apologized to his mother.

He began to cry as he told her: “I failed you as a son. You taught me better. You raised me better.”

Says he lost his businesses, his career, “I totally destroyed my reputation... but most of all, I lost my self-respect.”

‘I’ve been stripped down to nothing.”

He says domestic violence is a burden he will have to carry for the rest of his life, telling the court “my actions were disgusting, shameful and sick.”

He blames his drug use, in part, for his behavior. He says he was raised to know better, taught to know better by his mother and his faith.

“My actions were disgusting, shameful, sick. I was sick.”

His tone is even, resolute. “I’m not this larger-than-life person. I’m just a human being. ... I got lost in excess. I got lost in my ego.”

• to Cassie, for any physical or emotional harm he caused her — “I don’t take that lightly,” he said.
• to Cassie’s family and to Jane: “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry I brought you into my mess.”
• to all victims of domestic violence, saying he knows that the “disgusting despicable video” of him beating Cassie was triggering for people around the world.

Combs let out a deep breath and then began speaking, starting by thanking the judge.

“I want to thank you for finally giving me a chance to speak up for myself. One of the hardest things I’ve had to handle is to be quiet, not able to express how sorry I am for my actions.”

A founder of a private school where Combs is scheduled to speak if he’s released believes “everybody deserves a second chance.”

Thea White is one of the founders of the Sprouting to Success School in Miami Gardens, Florida. White told The Associated Press that Combs will address kids in the K-12 school on Oct. 14 if the judge lets him out of jail.

“I believe that life isn’t just about never making mistakes — it’s more about what we do after we make those mistakes,” White said.

She declined to say how the speaking engagement came together.

The prosecutor hit back at the Combs team’s portrayal of him as a man devoted to helping others and improving their lives.

She, by contrast, cited “the words of one person whose life the defendant has changed” -- Cassie.

Slavik read from a letter that the R&B singer submitted to the judge, saying that she still has regular flashbacks and nightmares about Combs’ abuse: “My experience was real, horrific, and deserves to be considered,” Cassie wrote.

Some Combs fans have come to the courthouse for the sentencing, where they have been watching the proceedings on closed-circuit monitors in overflow rooms.

“I’m here to see how the justice system plays out, to compare what others of his caliber and color have faced with the sentence Sean Combs will receive today,” said Desiree Monroe, who came from Pennsylvania.

After the defense lawyers and witnesses had their say, prosecutor Christy Slavik is getting a chance to rebut their presentation.

She’s telling the judge that Combs “is a master puppeteer of his own image. … but that image is incomplete, and it’s misleading.”

Slavik contrasted the highly produced 11-minute biographical defense video played in court on Friday when the gritty, raw security camera footage that showed him kicking, beating and dragging his former longtime girlfriend, Cassie, at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

That video, she said, “shows the defendant for who he is when he doesn’t know the camera is rolling.”

Agnifilo says that multiple doctors diagnosed the hip hop mogul with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said they made such findings in 2014, 2017 and 2020.

The attorney says it’s unclear what initial trauma triggered the problem, though he noted his father’s death when he was a toddler.

Agnifilo acknowledged that “we’re asking for a lot” by seeking Combs’ immediate release. But, he argues, the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer has been uniquely punished — not only with a year in jail, but with the public spectacle of raids on his home, a flurry of civil lawsuits and the destruction of his businesses.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo updates the schedule:

• He says he’ll take about five more minutes
• Then, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik will give her rebuttal
• Then, Combs gets the last word before sentencing

The executive director of the organization sponsoring Combs’ planned talks spoke briefly in court about the benefits he sees in having the music, fashion and business mogul speak to people who’ve also been involved in the criminal justice system.

“When an individual has the willingness to create his own life skills and entrepreneurship program, despite his legal challenges, that demonstrates reform and rehabilitation,” said Giovanni Sairras, of Re-Entry One Inc.

Combs is slated to give seven talks this month in the Miami area, provided he’s released from federal custody, beginning on Monday at a work release center. A prosecutor blasted Combs for scheduling the talks when he’s facing a potential yearslong sentence, calling it “the height of hubris.”

Sairras said he was impressed by letters shared with him expressing how Combs had a positive impact on the fellow inmates he taught in Jail.

After a prosecutor criticized Combs’ plans for “teaching engagements” in Florida as soon as next week, defense lawyer Xavier Donaldson told the judge that the proposed community events were meant to show what the former rap impresario would be doing “if the court let Mr. Combs out.”

They’re not meant as money-making ventures, but rather as “purposeful,” “intentional” activities that would show he would be “in a structured environment,” Donaldson added.

In a Sept. 29 letter to the court, a Combs’ supporter at a Miami-based nonprofit that helps prisoners readjust to freedom said he had scheduled Combs to speak at “teaching engagements” at a prison and various other facilities in South Florida this month, starting Monday.

Defense lawyer Xavier Donaldson took issue with the prosecution’s contention that Combs acted like a pimp as he engaged in prostitution-related crimes.

Unlike pimps, Combs didn’t recruit women to engage in paid sex work, nor did he make any money off of their work, the lawyer said.

Rev. Gary Johnson, a pastor in Florida, encouraged the judge to release Combs to probation, saying it pains him to see the one-time rap star locked up.

Johnson, a chaplain for the Miami Beach Police Department, said he would personally guarantee that Combs continues his rehabilitation post-incarceration.

“If you free him,” Johnson told the judge, “we’ll help free his mind.”

Steel urged the judge to only consider the conduct for which Combs was convicted, reiterating that the mogul was acquitted of the most serious charges, sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

“Sean Combs is a leader. He is a civil rights leader. His good outweighs his bad, by far,” Steel said.

The judge said earlier Friday that he will weigh all relevant conduct — including Combs’ violence — as he decides on a sentence. He left in place an “enhancement” for coercion, citing Combs’ threats to his longtime former girlfriend Cassie to publicly release videos of their so-called “freak-offs.”

Combs’ celebrity could be used to spread an anti-drug, anti-crime message if he’s freed. “He can be a spokesperson,” Steel said.

He said another attorney would address plans for upcoming events apparently featuring Combs in Florida, according to a letter sent to the court by a Miami-based nonprofit that helps prisoners readjust to freedom.

The letter lists a series of “teaching engagements” at a prison and various other facilities in South Florida, starting Monday.

Prosecutor Christy Slavik said Friday morning that planning for Combs to walk free by then is “the height of hubris.”

Combs “has punished himself more than anyone will be able to punish him and it will stay with him for the rest of his days,” Steel said. “Mr. Combs does not need any additional time in custody. That is not the way we treat” drug addiction and trauma today.

Steel also noted that Combs’ best friend, Christopher Wallace — the rapper known as Biggie Smalls and the Notorious B.I.G. — was murdered in 1997. And then he got hooked on painkillers following a medical procedure in 2000. After that, he was high “every single day,” Steel said.

“He was medicating because his body was hurt and his emotions were hurt. But he never stopped working. And all of that, the drug addiction and the trauma — untreated, your honor — caused him to hit, on occasion... the woman he loved.”

Steel said Combs remains haunted by his violent outbursts, remembering “every strike” he’s inflicted.

Following the emotional pleas from Combs’ children, his defense team is re-emphasizing its argument that he needs to be free for his family’s sake.

“He grew up without a father, his mother working all the time, and he swore that he would be there for his children,” Steel said. “That’s what Sean is fighting for.”

Defense lawyer Brian Steel urged Subramanian to see the case through the prism of the “untreated trauma” and “ferocious drug addiction” that he says contributed to the hip-hop mogul’s misconduct.

Steel noted that Combs’ father was murdered when Combs was three years old, leaving his mother, Janice, to raise him by herself. Combs’ drug addiction, Steel said, “got out of hand,” even causing him to “flat line” at times.

Steel called Combs a “moral man,” a “strong man,” “a family man,” and the “hardest working person that I have ever known.”

Steel is the third of five defense lawyers expected to address the court on the hip-hop mogul’s behalf.

Combs has returned following a lunch break. He stood briefly in front of the gallery and appeared to speak to supporters before retaking his seat at the defense table.

He stood just feet away from them as they approached the lectern. Then he sat back down, watching them intently. At times, he cast his head down and shook it. And when he seemed particularly upset, he dropped his head down and ran his hands through his hair.

Immediately after the children finished speaking, the defense showed the video, including clips of Combs with his children or trying to inspire others, particularly children, in public settings. Several minutes in, Combs put a hand over half his face and began crying, his shoulders at times heaving. Then he wiped his eyes with one hand before taking a tissue and doing the same.

Part of the video showed him running competitively, including finishing a New York Road Runners race. In one clip, he wore a t-shirt that said: “I am the American dream.”

Combs is a wealthy celebrity with a robust legal team. And as a music producer, TV executive and fashion force, he’s well-versed in making and shaping an image — evident in the production values of the video they played for the judge.

So far, two of his lawyers have addressed the court, along with six of his seven children, all but the toddler.

His lawyers contrasted his case with what they say are other prostitution-related cases involving far more heinous conduct. And Westmoreland delivered an emotional soliloquy that accentuated his impact on the Black community and fellow inmates, and his desire to effect positive change once he’s out from behind bars.

Three more defense lawyers and Combs himself are expected to speak after lunch.

The 11-minute video they prepared for sentencing shows highlights from his home videos, business exploits and more. It showcases him as a parent, businessman and a philanthropist.

In all, six of Combs’ seven children spoke. His youngest daughter, Love, is just two years old.

The judge thanked them afterward, saying he appreciated that doing so was difficult but it was important for the court to hear.

His daughters Chance and D’Lila Combs cried as they read prepared remarks. D’Lila saying she fears losing their father to prison and effectively being parentless after the 2018 death of her mother, Kim Porter.

“We are tired of being strong. We have already lost so much. We have lost our mother, we have lost time with our father, and every day he remains incarcerated, we lose more and more. Please, your honor, please,” D’Lila Combs said, crying, “give our family the chance to heal together, to rebuild, to change, to move forward, not as a headline, but as human beings. We’re trying to do better.”

Chance Combs said: “Instead of making excuses, my father now works on ways to improve.”

Echoing his siblings’ view of Combs’ changes while in jail, son Christian Combs said the impresario has become “more patient, more relaxed, more trusting, more understanding and just a better man.”

He implored the judge to free Combs: “Please give my family grace. Please let my father out,” he said. “Please give him mercy.”