Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will today learn his fate as a New York federal judge prepares to sentence him on two prostitution-related convictions — charges that could see him jailed for more than a decade despite being cleared of sex trafficking and racketeering.
The 55-year-old hip-hop pioneer, who once stood at the pinnacle of global entertainment, faces a maximum of 10 years on each count. Prosecutors have urged Judge Arun Subramanian to impose at least 11 years, branding Combs “unrepentant” and a danger to the public.
Combs’s legal team has asked for leniency, seeking a 14-month sentence — effectively time already served, given his year-long detention in Brooklyn. His lawyers argue his “legacy is shattered” and insist prison has already humbled him.
Victim impact statements weigh heavily in the case, particularly from singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who testified about more than a decade of alleged abuse. In a letter to the court, she described being coerced into “freak-offs,” violent encounters that Combs sometimes filmed. “The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away,” Ventura wrote, adding that she and her family have fled New York out of fear of retribution.
Combs, expected to address the court directly, has already issued a plea for mercy. In a letter to Judge Subramanian, he apologised for the “appalling” evidence of violence and said he was “scared to death” of being away from his family. “I have been humbled and broken to my core. I will never commit a crime again,” he wrote.
Federal sentencing guidelines provide broad discretion, leaving Judge Subramanian to balance calls for punishment with pleas for leniency. Whatever the outcome, Combs’s once-celebrated career lies in ruins, with even his supporters conceding that his reputation has been “shattered.”
Amid speculation of political intervention, sources suggest Combs’s circle has quietly explored the possibility of a presidential pardon — though Donald Trump, a one-time acquaintance from New York’s celebrity elite, has remained publicly noncommittal.
The sentencing marks the climax of a trial that has rocked the American music industry, ending decades of whispered allegations and laying bare the private life of one of its most powerful figures.
