Video: Music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs sentenced to over 4 years in prostitution case

Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced on Friday to four years and two months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters, capping a sordid federal case that featured harrowing testimony and ended in a forceful reckoning for one of the most popular figures in hip-hop.

Combs, 55, was also fined half a million dollars. Having already served a year in custody, the sentence means he is likely to be released in about three years. His lawyers had sought his immediate release, arguing that the time already spent behind bars had forced his remorse and sobriety.

He was convicted in July of flying girlfriends and male sex workers around the United States to engage in drug-fuelled sexual encounters, a practice that spanned many years and multiple locations. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have seen him jailed for life.

“Why did it go on for so long?” US District Judge Arun Subramanian asked as he delivered the sentence. “Because you had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught.”

Combs showed no visible reaction as the sentence was read out, sitting in his chair and staring straight ahead. He remained subdued afterwards, appearing dejected and stripped of the enthusiasm and smiles that had marked his earlier interactions with lawyers and family members. Just before leaving the courtroom, he said quietly to his family: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

In a final plea before sentencing, Combs appealed for leniency.

“I ask your honour for a chance to be a father again,” he said, “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". He apologised to those he had hurt physically and mentally with his “disgusting, shameful” actions, and said his domestic violence would be a burden he would carry for the rest of his life.

Earlier, Combs wept as defence lawyers played a video highlighting his family life, career and philanthropy.

The nearly two-month trial in federal court in Manhattan included testimony from women who said Combs had beaten, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed them. Prosecutor Christy Slavik told the judge that sparing Combs a lengthy custodial sentence would excuse years of violence.

“This is a case about a man who did horrible things to real people to satisfy his own sexual gratification,” she said. “He didn’t need the money. His currency was control.”

Combs was convicted under the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution. Defence counsel Jason Driscoll argued the law had been misapplied.

During testimony, former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura told jurors that Combs had ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship. Jurors were shown video of him dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles hotel corridor after one such multiday “freak-off”.

“While nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs,” Cassie’s solicitors Douglas Wigdor and Meredith Firetog said in a statement, “the sentence imposed today recognises the impact of the serious offences he committed.”

Another woman, identified as “Jane”, testified she had been pressured into sex with male workers during drug-fuelled “hotel nights” while Combs watched and sometimes filmed.

The only accuser scheduled to address the court on Friday, a former assistant known as “Mia”, withdrew after defence objections. She has accused Combs of raping her in 2010 and had asked the judge for a sentence that reflected “the ongoing danger my abuser poses”.

Two of Combs’ daughters, Chance and D’Lila, wept as they addressed the court, with D’Lila saying she feared losing her father after the death of their mother, Kim Porter, in 2018. Six of Combs’ seven children spoke in total.

“Please, your honour, please,” D’Lila said through tears, “give our family the chance to heal together, to rebuild, to change, to move forward, not as a headline, but as human beings.”

Outside the courthouse, journalists and onlookers thronged, echoing scenes from the trial.

Sade Bess, a Combs fan from Brooklyn, left the court’s overflow observation 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.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP)