Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking the court to be released in advance of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges, promising not to “squander his second chance at life,” weeks after a jury handed down a split verdict.
After listening to eight weeks of shocking testimony about the 55-year-old music mogul’s sex life and past violence, a jury this month convicted him of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and acquitted him of the more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
His sentencing date is scheduled for October 3, but the rapper is now asking to be released “on appropriate conditions” in advance of the hearing.
“This jury gave him his life back, and he will not squander his second chance at life, nor would he do anything to further jeopardize his seven children not having a father, and four of his children not having a parent at all,” his attorneys wrote in a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over the case, Tuesday.
Diddy’s lawyers argued there are “exceptional circumstances” under which his detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center is not appropriate and proposed numerous conditions for his release.
The attorneys suggested the rapper sign a $50 million bond, secured by his Miami home, where he will live. He will surrender his passport and his travel will be limited to the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of New York for attorney meetings. He would also be placed under the supervision of the U.S. Pretrial Services Agency, the lawyers said.
If the court “finds more extreme conditions necessary,” the attorneys suggested adding any or all additional conditions, like putting their client on home detention, private security approved by the Court and Pretrial Services, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, or electronic surveillance.
Diddy will abide by any of these conditions, the attorneys argued.
His defense team argued that the rapper doesn’t pose a danger to the community or any specific people while noting that during the trial, he admitted “a history of domestic violence.”
Throughout the trial, prosecutors repeatedly showed the video of Diddy hitting Cassie Ventura, his ex-girlfriend of 11 years, in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in 2016. Ventura, her friends, and others who knew the couple at the time testified about his violence toward her. Diddy also admitted that in June 2024, he twice “struck” Jane, his ex-girlfriend from 2021 through 2024.
Subramanian denied bail earlier this month, saying at the July 2 bail conference that the defendant failed to meet his burden to show he didn’t pose a danger to the community.
Throughout the trial, the defense team repeatedly “conceded the defendant’s violence” throughout the trial, Subramanian said, adding that Agnifilo “full-throatedly” argued that his team “owned domestic violence” in his closing arguments.
In Tuesday’s letter, Diddy’s attorneys also argued that other defendants convicted under the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting individuals across state or country lines for the purpose of prostitution, have been released on bond pending sentencing.
They also said he should not be in jail for his “swingers” lifestyle and underscored the uniqueness of the case. “There has literally never been a case like this one, where a person and his girlfriend arranged for adult men to have consensual sexual relations with the adult long-term girlfriend as part of a demonstrated ‘swingers’ lifestyle and has been prosecuted and incarcerated under the Mann Act,” the letter states.
Prosecutors have pushed back on the idea of releasing Diddy from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ahead of his sentencing.
During the bail conference, Prosecutor Maurene Comey, who has since been fired from her post, slammed that the only thing “exceptional” about Diddy was “his wealth, his violence, and his brazenness.” She said he’s shown “no remorse” to victims.
