(File Photo: Source for Photo: Sean Combs arrives at the Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry Icons at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File)
(AP) Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs are planning to appeal after the Grammy-winning artist and music executive was sentenced Friday to more than four years in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters. The case shattered his carefully cultivated reputation as an affable celebrity entrepreneur, A-list party host and reality TV star.
It culminated a public reckoning for the 55-year-old hip-hop star, who made a plea for leniency and wept as his lawyers played a video portraying his family life, career and philanthropy.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian also fined Combs $500,000, the maximum allowed.
Combs was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters over many years and in multiple places.
The sordid, nearly two-month trial in a federal court in Manhattan featured harrowing testimony from women who said Combs beat, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed them.
He was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.
Here’s what to know about the case.
How much time will Combs serve
Combs was sentenced to four years and two months in prison.
He has already served a year in jail, meaning he could get out in about three years.
Prosecutors sought a sentence of more than 11 years. Combs’ lawyers wanted him freed immediately and said the time behind bars has already forced his remorse and sobriety. On the eve of his sentencing, Combs wrote the judge proclaiming himself to be a new man after realizing he was “broken to my core.”
Combs’ lawyers said they will appeal.
There is no chance of parole in the federal system.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik said that sparing Combs serious prison time would excuse years of violence.
Key witnesses against Combs urged the judge to reject leniency for the hip-hop mogul, saying they feared for their safety if he was freed.
Where is Combs doing time
Combs was sent to a Brooklyn federal lockup a year ago after his lawyers unsuccessfully fought to keep him out of jail following his arrest.
The lockup is used mainly for post-arrest detention for people awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Other inmates are there to serve short sentences following convictions.
The facility has been plagued by problems since opening in the 1990s. In recent years, its conditions have been so stark that some judges have refused to send people there.
Combs’ lawyers were denied a request to let him await trial under house arrest at his mansion on an island in Miami Beach, Florida.
It wasn’t immediately clear where he will serve the remainder of his sentence.
There is a federal lockup for men near Combs’ home. It’s a low-security federal correctional institution at Miami with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp. The inmate population there totals 1,000, including 174 at the camp and 826 at the correctional institution, according to its website.
Testimony at trial
During trial testimony, former girlfriend and R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura told jurors that Combs ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship. Jurors saw video of him dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one such multiday “freak-off.”
Another woman, identified as “Jane,” testified she was pressured into sex with male workers during drug-fueled “hotel nights” while Combs watched and sometimes filmed.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly.
Combs’ lawyers argued at trial that the government was trying to criminalize consensual, if unconventional, sexual tastes.
Federal law that was violated
Combs was sentenced for violating the federal Mann Act, an anti-prostitution law with a century-old history. The Mann Act makes it illegal to transport someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sex acts.
The law was amended in the 1980s and today it is primarily used for prosecuting interstate prostitution crimes or people accused of taking underage children across state lines for sexual purposes.
Defense attorney Jason Driscoll argued Friday the law was misapplied.
“Diddy’s” long descent
Combs’ reputational free fall began when Ventura, the criminal trial’s key witness, sued him in 2023, alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. They settled within hours for $20 million — an amount she disclosed publicly for the first time during the trial. Dozens of other people have since made similar legal claims.
The revelation of the federal sex trafficking investigation on the day of a bicoastal raid of Combs’ houses took the allegations to another level of seriousness and public knowledge.
How the case played in popular culture
The revelation that feds had seized 1,000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricant as part of the raid entered the popular culture immediately.
The case turned Combs into a punchline as much as a villain. Talk shows, “Saturday Night Live” and social media posters milked it for jokes about “freak-offs” and the voluminous amounts of baby oil he had for the sex marathons.
Fellow celebrities were called out for past Diddy associations — though no others were implicated in the criminal allegations.
