Sean “Diddy” Combs made a final push for leniency Monday (September 22) as his legal team urged a federal judge in New York to impose a 14-month sentence — which amounts to time served — following his conviction on lesser charges tied to transporting individuals for prostitution.
The 380-page filing from Diddy’s attorneys argues he should be released immediately after spending over a year behind bars. “It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family,” the defense wrote in the court submission.
Earlier this year, a jury found the 55-year-old music executive guilty of moving consenting adults across state lines with the intent to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of more serious allegations, including sex trafficking and racketeering.
Diddy’s sentencing is scheduled for October 3.
His legal team accused prosecutors of attempting to impose a punishment disproportionate to the actual conviction. “Mr. Combs must be sentenced for what the jury convicted him of—interstate transportation of fully consenting adults with intent to engage in prostitution. But it would be unlawful, and a perversion of justice, for the Court to sentence him as if the jury had convicted him of sex trafficking and RICO, or to increase his sentence based on the Court’s own findings about force or coercion or racketeering.”
Calling the prosecution’s stance “draconian,” the defense likened the government’s approach to the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, writing, “Verdict be damned—lock him up and throw away the key.”
The defense also highlighted Diddy’s personal history, describing him as “an extraordinary person who has made monumental professional and personal contributions throughout his 55 years.”
The filing referenced the deaths of his father, longtime friend Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G.), and Kim Porter, the mother of four of his children, as major emotional blows that contributed to his struggles with substance abuse, anger and anxiety.
“These events were devastating, and for decades Mr. Combs struggled with serious substance abuse issues, anger and anxiety,” the filing stated, adding that he only began to confront these issues during his current incarceration.
Diddy’s attorneys also emphasized that he did not profit from the acts in question. They said the case involved “threesomes where fully competent adult men and women voluntarily crossed state lines and had consensual sex with each other.”
They claimed he arranged encounters involving Cassie Ventura and male escorts for his own viewing, but did not financially benefit.
Some women involved have challenged whether the encounters were truly consensual.
The U.S. Probation Office’s sentencing recommendation remains sealed, but Diddy’s team believes it suggests a five-year prison term.
Diddy has been in custody since his arrest last year.
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