ZB ZB
Opinion
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Sean 'Diddy' Combs sentenced to over four years in prison

Author
AFP,
Publish Date
Sat, 4 Oct 2025, 10:22am
Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to more than four years in prison. Photo / Getty Images
Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to more than four years in prison. Photo / Getty Images

Sean 'Diddy' Combs sentenced to over four years in prison

Author
AFP,
Publish Date
Sat, 4 Oct 2025, 10:22am

Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for his conviction on prostitution-related charges.

Prosecutors had sought 11 years behind bars for Combs but Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a 50-month sentence after an emotional daylong court hearing.

Combs’ lawyers had urged the judge to sentence the 55-year-old hip-hop star to 14 months, which would effectively have been time served since he has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

Addressing the court before the judge handed down the sentence, Combs said he was “truly sorry” for his actions and asked the judge for “another chance”.

“I ask your honour for mercy,” he said. “I beg your honour for mercy.”

Combs was acquitted by a jury in July of the most serious charges against him – sex trafficking and racketeering – but convicted of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra Ventura submitted a letter to the judge asking him to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control”.

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, described in wrenching detail the physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

She said she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis”.

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

Speaking before the sentencing, prosecutor Christy Slavik said Combs has not accepted responsibility for his actions.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris”.

Arguing for a lesser sentence, Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’ lawyers, called him an “inspiration” to the Black community and a social justice crusader.

“No, Combs is not larger than life,” she said. “He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.”

But he is remorseful and “it’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison”.

Combs’ six adult children each delivered an emotional plea on their father’s behalf, with the eldest Quincy Brown calling him “a changed man”.

“Please, please give our family the chance to heal together,” said one of his daughters, D’Lila Combs. “Not as headlines but as human beings.”

- Agence France-Presse

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email [email protected]
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you