Diddy wants out of FCI Fort Dix for Christmas and he’s asking an appeals court to be his Santa Claus.
The rap mogul, serving a 50-month federal sentence, filed an emergency motion demanding his release before the holidays.
The motion, filed December 23, calls his 50-month term “a perversion of justice.” His lawyers claim the judge who sentenced him ignored the jury’s verdict, violated the Constitution, and punished him for crimes he was found not guilty of.
Diddy was convicted in July 2025 on two Mann Act counts for transporting women and men across state lines for prostitution.
The same jury acquitted him of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges that alleged he ran a criminal empire fueled by “freak-offs,” drugs and violence.
Despite those acquittals, Judge Arun Subramanian gave him the harshest Mann Act sentence in modern history, more than four years, after describing him as a coercive and manipulative abuser.
In his appeal, Diddy says that the sentence trampled the law.
His attorneys argue that the judge “acted as a thirteenth juror,” relying on discredited testimony and “acquitted conduct” to justify a longer term.
“Not guilty means not guilty,” the brief quotes U.S. Sentencing Commission Chair Carlton Reeves, blasting the court for defying new rules that forbid sentencing judges from relying on conduct a jury rejected.
It says Diddy has already served nearly 16 months, longer than the national average for similar Mann Act cases and deserves immediate release or resentencing.
The backstory is as crazy as 50 Cent’s Diddy docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning.
Federal prosecutors charged Diddy in 2024 with racketeering, sex trafficking, and transporting women for prostitution after raiding his Los Angeles and Miami mansions. They accused him of using employees to recruit and pay male escorts for his girlfriends, calling it the “Combs Enterprise.”
His lawyers said that freak-offs with Cassie and Jane Doe were consensual, describing it as a “voyeuristic swingers’ lifestyle” that involved adult performers, elaborate staging, and filming.
The jury believed them, acquitting the disgraced mogul of every charge involving force or coercion. Still, Judge Subramanian sentenced him as if he had been convicted of sex trafficking.
Diddy slammed the judge, claiming he was determined to “send a message.” It accuses the court of calling Diddy “violent” and “coercive” without a legal basis, while ignoring the jury’s unanimous finding that the sex was consensual.
His team insists he should have been sentenced only for “interstate transportation for voluntary prostitution,” which carries far shorter guidelines.
Prosecutors argued otherwise.
They maintain Diddy exploited power and wealth to orchestrate sexual abuse and say the sentence reflects the seriousness of his actions. The government opposes any Christmas release, calling the motion another publicity stunt.
Diddy remains at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey, the same prison that once housed Michael Cohen and Jersey Shore’s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino.
His trial appeal is on an expedited track, but unless the Second Circuit acts fast, Diddy will spend Christmas behind razor wire, far from the luxury studios and mansions that built his empire.
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