NEW YORK — Lawyers for music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs urged a New York federal judge Monday to sentence him early next month to no more than 14 months in prison for his conviction on two prostitution-related charges, meaning he’d go free almost immediately if the judge agreed.
The lawyers made their arguments in a written submission to Judge Arun Subramanian, who has already rejected a proposed $50 million bail package, signaling that he doesn’t believe the Grammy-winning artist is close to being released.
“Mr. Combs’s celebrity status in the realms of music, fashion, spirits, media, and finance has been shattered and Mr. Combs’s legacy has been destroyed,” the lawyers wrote, saying their client has been punished enough.
The submission provided new information about what life behind bars for nearly 13 months has been like for Combs, what’s happened to his businesses and other interests and explains why he turned down a plea-deal offer from prosecutors prior to his trial.
Combs faces an Oct. 3 sentencing after his July conviction by a Manhattan jury on two Mann Act charges that outlaw interstate commerce related to prostitution. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The Bad Boy Records founder was exonerated on more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that would have required a minimum of 15 years in prison and the possibility of a life sentence.
In their submission, Combs’ lawyers argued that a jury sent a loud message to the judge by exonerating him of the most serious charges.
“Put simply, the jury has spoken. Its verdict represents an ‘affirmative indication of innocence,’” the lawyers said.
“He has served over a year in one of the most notorious jails in America — yet has made the most of that punishment. It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family, so he can continue his treatment and try to make the most of the next chapter of his extraordinary life,” they added.
Prosecutors, who will submit their recommendations prior to the Oct. 3 sentencing, have already said they’ll urge Combs stay imprisoned substantially longer than the four to five years they originally thought.
Defense lawyers, though, wrote in their submission Monday that prosecutors “have lost all perspective.”
“Mr. Combs’s career and reputation have been destroyed,” they wrote. “His life outside of jail has been systematically dismantled.”
Among other things, they noted that he had to let go over 100 employees from his businesses and many of them have been unable to get new jobs because of their past association with Combs.
His seven children, they said, have faced “devastating consequences,” including lost business opportunities in acting, television, fashion and concerts, with some of them being included in some of the nearly 100 civil lawsuits filed against Combs since his arrest.
The lawyers also noted that Combs and his family were set to star in a Hulu show about their lives, but the show was cancelled once the allegations against him became public.
Combs was removed from the boards at three charter schools he created in Harlem, the Bronx and Connecticut and was stripped of an honorary doctorate degree from Howard University, which plans to return his prior donations, they said.
Meanwhile, Combs’s life in prison has been harrowing at times, even as it has allowed him to become sober for the first time in 25 years, his lawyers said.
On one occasion, another inmate approached Combs with a shiv, accusing Combs of sitting on a chair that the inmate wanted to sit on, before Combs defused the situation and calmed the man and his makeshift weapon down, the lawyers said.
They said he has been under constant suicide watch, meaning every two hours he must present his identification card to guards to show he is alive and well and is awakened from sleep in a brightly lighted cell by a guard to ensure he is well.
He also has limited access to clean water, leaving him to heat the water that he drinks to ensure it won’t make him sick and he must sleep within two feet of other inmates in a dorm-style room containing a bathroom and no door, the lawyers wrote.
“Mr. Combs has not breathed fresh air in nearly 13 months, or felt sunlight on his skin, often walking with a limp due to a painful knee injury that requires surgery,” they said. And the food, they added, sometimes contains maggots.
Prior to trial, the lawyers said, prosecutors offered Combs a plea deal that would have recommended a prison sentence of at least 25 years and required him to plead guilty to crimes of which he was acquitted.
They portrayed their client as a changed man, who had realized that his overuse of drugs, including some prescribed by doctors, had contributed to violent acts he participated in.
“Without minimizing Mr. Combs’s conduct, this is in many ways a ‘sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll’ story,” they said. “Mr. Combs had severe substance abuse problems throughout the entirety of the offense conduct and participated in a high-octane celebrity lifestyle.”
The music maven’s trial featured lengthy testimony from two former girlfriends of Combs who said they felt forced to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers as Combs watched and sometimes filmed the dayslong encounters.
R&B singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura testified that she participated in hundreds of the meetups that were referred to as “freak-offs” while she was his most frequent girlfriend from 2007 to 2018.
Another ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” said she also felt pressured to perform sexually with male sex workers while she dated Combs from 2021 until his arrest at a New York hotel a year ago.
There was also extensive testimony during the trial about Combs beating his girlfriends and using violence and the fears of it to control those around him.
Defense lawyers at trial conceded there was domestic abuse but said the charges brought by prosecutors were not proven.
While he was once so depressed in jail that “there were days when he was unable to get out of his bed or even talk to the psychology department,” his lawyers said he looks forward to the future.
They said he has begun teaching other inmates essential skills in business management, entrepreneurship and personal development.
The lawyers wrote that the education program has become “one of the most impactful and important endeavors of his life” and he hopes to expand it to state-run facilities once he is released.
“He is a humbled man who understands that the most important things in life are his devotion to and quality time with his family and his contributions for the benefit of others,” they said.
