On Friday, Sean Combs will enter Federal District Court in Manhattan to learn how much more of his life will be spent behind bars.
In July, at the conclusion of an eight-week trial, a jury acquitted Mr. Combs of the most serious charges brought against him: sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. But the jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and now Judge Arun Subramanian will decide Mr. Combs’s punishment.
Here is a look at what is at stake for Mr. Combs, and what to expect on Friday.
The convictions carry the possibility of significant prison time.
Mr. Combs — the hit music producer known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, who built a wide-ranging business empire around his personal brand — was accused at trial of coercing two former girlfriends into participating in elaborate, drug-fueled sex marathons with hired male escorts. If convicted of the most serious charges, he would have faced a potential life sentence.
When he was acquitted of those counts, he fell to his knees in prayer, and his lawyer said he had “been given his life back.”
But the two counts on which he was found guilty still carry maximum sentences of 10 years each. They stem from the federal Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
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