By Kitty Chrisp
Copyright metro
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is due to be sentenced on October 3 (Picture: Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Lawyers of Sean Combs, also known as Diddy, have urged a judge to let him go home after he was found guilty of transportation for prostitution in July.
The music mogul, 55, was denied bail by a New York judge this summer following months of court hearings, with the likes of his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and fellow rapper Kid Cudi among those taking the stand.
Following six weeks of testimony, Combs was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution, but was cleared of the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
He denied all allegations, pleaded not guilty and is expected to appeal his conviction.
Now lawyers for the disgraced rapper have urged a New York federal judge to sentence Combs early next month with no more than 14 months in prison, which would mean he would go free almost immediately if granted.
In a court filing, Combs’ legal team requested a lesser sentence followed by a supervised release which would entail mandatory drug treatment, therapy, and group counselling.
Combs’ ex Cassie Ventura took to the stand throughout the six weeks of testimonies (Picture: John Shearer/Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter)
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Prosecutors have until September 29 to recommend a sentence and have said that a ‘substantial’ prison term is justified.
Combs is set to be sentenced on October 3, and judge Arun Subramanian has scheduled a hearing for Thursday to consider Combs’ legal team’s request.
Combs was arrested on September 16 last year and has been in prison ever since.
At the time of the verdict, prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government will seek a 20-year maximum for Combs.
The judge confirmed he would receive a 10-month credit taking time already served into account.
What was the verdict in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs case?
Racketeering conspiracy: Not guilty
Sex trafficking of Cassie Ventura: Not guilty
Transportation for prostitution of Ventura and others: Guilty
Sex trafficking of woman known as “Jane”: Not guilty
Transportation for prostitution of “Jane” and others: Guilty
The BBC reported that, as the verdict was read out, Combs ‘remained stoic and hard to read, staring forward’.
After the verdict was read, Combs’ lawyers immediately argued he should now walk out of the courthouse a free man, after months of being behind bars in a federal jail.
Lawyer Marc Agnifilo said his client’s acquittal on the most serious charges meant he should be released to go live at his home in Florida on a $1,000,000 bond, until his sentencing hearing.
In November 2023, a year before Combs’ arrest, Ventura filed a lawsuit accusing him of raping and physically abusing her during the course of their relationship.
They settled the suit privately the day after it was filed – but she appeared in court at the beginning of the trial to detail their 11-year on-off romance, and the ‘freak offs’, where he allegedly coerced multiple people into ‘elaborate and produced sex performances’.
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He was accused to have organised the incidents, while ‘directing, masturbating during and often electronically recording’ them, and forcing, or coercing, women to participate with male sex workers.
Ventura also discussed the highly publicised video of Combs appearing to attack her at the InterContinental Hotel in LA in 2016, confirming that she will be receiving a $10million sum after negotiating an agreement with the hotel.
Becoming emotional in court, she insisted that she would give up the money if it allowed her to turn back the clock and not go through Combs’ drug-fueled sex parties.
‘I’d give that money back if I never had to have freak-offs,’ she said in tears. ‘If I never had to have freak-offs, I would have agency and autonomy. I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.’
When asked how those situations made her feel, she simply added: ‘Worthless’.
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