Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentenced to 50 months for prostitution

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge on Friday handed down a sentence of just over four years in prison to music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who beat racketeering and sex trafficking charges at a highly publicized trial earlier this year but was convicted on lesser prostitution transportation counts.

Those crimes were still serious ones, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian noted when dishing out the 50-month sentence.

“A history of good work cannot wash away the record in this case which shows that you abused the power and control over the lives of women you professed to love dearly,” the Joe Biden appointee said from the bench. “You used that abuse to get your way, especially as it came to ‘freakoffs’ and ‘hotel nights.’”

Combs, clad in a beige sweater, sat motionless at the defense table as the judge ruled.

His sentence is less than half of the 135 months prosecutors were seeking.

It’s a far cry from the life in prison Combs could have faced had the Manhattan jury found him guilty on all counts. Prosecutors accused the renowned rap producer of controlling a criminal enterprise that trafficked women across the country for clandestine and drug-fueled choreographed sex marathons in luxury hotel rooms.

But after roughly 13 hours of deliberating, jurors reached a verdict on July 2 that rejected the government’s broader narrative and convicted Combs only on the lesser charges of his five-count indictment: two counts of Mann Act Transportation — prostitution crimes that carry maximum sentences of 10 years each.

“I want to say thank you to the jury,” Combs said when addressing the court on Friday. “I thank them for the not guilty verdict. I don’t take lightly my Mann Act convictions.”

Combs also apologized to two of his ex-girlfriends, R&B singer Cassie Ventura and an Instagram model known as “Jane,” who testified against him at trial.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Combs said. “I’m sorry that I brought you into my mess.”

Central to prosecutors’ case was an infamous 2016 security clip of Combs dragging, hitting and kicking Ventura across the floor of a luxury hotel. They hoped the footage would show how Combs used physical force to coerce his victims into the sex acts.

“I know that video, that disgusting, despicable video, can trigger a lot of people all around the world,” Combs said. “Domestic violence is a burden that I will always have to carry. My actions were disgusting, shameful and sick.”

Throughout the trial, Combs didn’t shy away from the violence in his relationships with Ventura and Jane Doe. His legal team tried to portray the abuse as mutual — an argument Subramanian denied at sentencing.

“I was sitting right here for the testimony of Ms. Ventura and Jane,” the judge said.“We read about it in text messages and emails. We saw it in the images of gashes, bruises, broken doors. And we saw the video of your savage beating of Ms. Ventura.”

Prosecutors noted that Combs’ violence continued even after he was already under federal investigation.

“The defendant’s abuse was consistent, casual even,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christie Slavik.

Combs’ legal team largely tried to downplay the convictions in their bid for his release on time served. The rapper already spent more than a year behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Brian Steel, one of Combs’ numerous defense attorneys, claimed Combs was nearly stabbed during that stint.

“The guards stopped a person who was armed with a shank who was on top of Sean and about to cut him,” Steel said Friday, attributing Combs’ behavior to “untreated trauma” and “a ferocious drug addiction.”

Steel, perhaps best known for his criminal defense of another rapper, Young Thug, argued that Combs would be best used as a motivational speaker of sorts — one who could educate others about drug use and deter them from engaging in domestic violence.

“You can use him as a tool so other people do not sit in this seat,” Steel said. “He can be a spokesperson.”

At times, the subject of Combs’ late on-again-off-again girlfriend Kim Porter took center stage. Combs mutely sobbed when the defense played an 11-minute montage of his philanthropic efforts and sentimental family moments, which included footage from the aftermath of Porter’s sudden death.

Some of Combs’ children also referenced losing their mother when addressing the court.

“We’re tired of being strong. We’ve already lost so much,” said a tearful D’Lila Combs, one of three children Combs had with Porter.

It was a stunning conclusion to a two-month trial that captivated the entertainment world. Through testimony from Ventura and Jane, jurors heard firsthand accounts of what he called “freakoffs” or “hotel nights,” in which the women claimed that Combs plied them with drugs and forced them to have sex with male escorts.

As it happened, Combs would watch from the corner of a hotel room, masturbate and occasionally videotape.

“At a certain point, I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice,” Ventura testified about the sometimes multi-day sex marathons. “Didn’t know what ‘no’ could turn into.”

In a letter to the court, Ventura said the events were “degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses and days of physical and emotional exhaustion before he demanded it all again.”

Combs’ defense team never denied that the hip hop artist was physically abusive, but rejected the notion that the physical abuse was used to pressure his girlfriends into the sex marathons.

Rapper Kid Cudi, whose birth name is Scott Meschudi, also took the stand. He told jurors about a 2012 incident in which Combs’ purportedly broke into his Hollywood Hills home and set fire to his Porsche 911 convertible with a Molotov cocktail.

Prosecutors hoped that testimony would help bolster their racketeering case against Combs, who they argued firebombed the car after discovering Meschudi had started to date Ventura.

Despite beating the bigger charges, Combs remained behind bars at a federal jail in Brooklyn awaiting his sentencing after the judge found his admitted history of domestic violence would make it “impossible” to ensure community safety with his release.

Formerly known as Puff Daddy, Combs worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his own record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, in 1993. He came to national prominence in the early 1990s, producing hit debut albums for rapper The Notorious B.I.G. and R&B singer Mary J. Blige.

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