Diddy was denied acquittal and a new trial days before he was sentenced
The 55-year-old rapper was found guilty on two counts of arranging interstate travel for prostitution-related individuals, but he was cleared of more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, which carried a potential life sentence. He is set to be sentenced in Manhattan on Friday, 03.10.25.
Combs’ team therefore requested a fresh trial from the court based only on the prostitution accusations.
He had been wrongfully accused of consensual adult sexual behavior under the Mann Act, they said.
A fresh trial and acquittal were requested, however these were turned down.
The New York Times newspaper reports that US District Judge Arun Subramanian stated in recent court filings: “The government at trial repeatedly provided compelling evidence of Combs’s guilt under the Mann Act with regard to both Ventura and Jane.
The government repeatedly substantiated their claims. That might be sufficient on its own to end Combs’s challenge.
Combs’s eight-week trial included testimony from Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and a woman who went under the alias Jane.
Defense lawyers have requested that the judge sentence the I’ll Be Missing You singer to no more than 14 months in prison, but he faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the two counts he was found guilty of. The singer has been detained in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center for over a year since his arrest in September 2024.
If Combs behaves well, he will be released right away.
The prosecution, however, requested on Tuesday that Combs be given a minimum term of 11 years and three months in jail.
In her testimony against Combs, Ventura said she had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse while dating him, and that she had been coerced into taking part in so-called “freak offs.”
In her three-page victim impact statement, which she wrote in advance of her ex-lover’s sentencing later this week, she begged the judge to take into account a sentence that takes into account “the reality of the evidence and my lived experience as a victim.”
In a letter that was sent in to the court on Monday, September 29, and that Rolling Stone was able to get, she wrote: “I testified in front of a full courtroom about the most terrible and horrifying chapter in my life for four days in May, while I was nine months pregnant with my son.
As I testified, Sean Combs utilized assault, threats, drugs, and control over my career to ensnare me in more than ten years of abuse starting when I was nineteen. He trained me to engage in recurring sexual actions with male prostitutes during multi-day “freak offs,” which took place often every week.
In order for him to manipulate me like a puppet, I was made to wear heels and lingerie, taught exactly how I should look, and given narcotics and drink. Before he wanted it all again, I had to endure days of physical and emotional weariness, infections, and unpleasant and degrading occurrences. I started doing sex acts full-time because it was the only way to keep his favor.
