Ahead of the sentence, Combs spoke in court and asked the judge for mercy. “No matter what anybody says, I know that I’m truly sorry for it all,” he said, per The New York Times, citing the losses to his reputation to his family, businesses, and reputation. Judge Arun Subramanian was unconvinced, saying before delivering the sentence that “a history of good works can’t wash away the record in this case, which shows that you abused the power and control over the lives of women who you professed to love.”
In the months after his conviction, Combs’ legal team tried various means to get the conviction overturned, and eventually asked for leniency with his sentence. In July, his lawyers argued that videos of the infamous “freak offs”—wherein women such as Cassie Ventura alleged that Combs forced her to have sex with men for up to 36 hours uninterrupted—were “amateur pornography” and thus “protected First Amendment conduct.” When the legal system didn’t buy that (or any of their other attempts), Combs wrote a letter seeking clemency (shared publicly last night), claiming, “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn.”
Combs was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering in September 2024. At least 120 claims of sexual assault were filed against him. Ventura filed her complaint in 2023. “[S]he paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution,” her attorney said upon Combs’ conviction in July. “By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.”
