Sean “Diddy” Combs has been teaching fellow inmates how to “better themselves” on a course he runs from the Brooklyn jail where he’s holed up on prostitution charges.
The course is called “Free Game With Diddy,” which is slang for information given freely.
The mogul is facing up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Friday after a jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, also known as the Mann Act. They acquitted him of the more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Details of the six-week course the 55-year-old has been running at the Metropolitan Detention Center have been shared by Combs’ legal team in “letters of support” ahead of his sentencing, where he could address the court for the first time.
Combs teaches inmates about positive thinking, how to deal with failure, goal setting and shares other business intel, according to the syllabus.
“The course offers exclusive insights into the journey of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, tracing his rise from humble beginnings to becoming a globally recognized icon and influential business mogul,” the syllabus says.
The former business tycoon has received glowing reviews from inmates, but none of them mentioned the prostitution offences he was convicted of in July in their letters to Judge Arun Subramanian.
“This class is teaching me how to be discipline [sic],” one inmate wrote. “I know by applying myself in this class it will help me become self-aware of my negative behavior.”
“Even behind bars and with limitd [sic] resources I have witness [sic] this man do magical things,” another said in praise of the rapper.
“He shared first hand knowledge/experience being in the corporate world,” wrote another. “Mr Combs has inspired me to change my views on life. He has taught me to always hold myself accountable, to have self discipline and to always be consistent with what I am doing.”
“When I’m released I can move forward with what I’ve learned from his class,” wrote another inmate. “He has taught me to focus on bettering myself instead of gossiping or getting into trouble. I think he deserves his freedom…he isn’t made for this place.”
On an inmate performance evaluation form, a prison manager wrote of Combs: “Excellent work, great class!!!”
Despite the rave reviews about his course, prosecutors are asking for the judge to sentence Combs to 135 months — more than 11 years — behind bars.
“His crimes of conviction are serious and have warranted sentences over 10 years in multiple cases for defendants who, like Sean Combs, engaged in violence and put others in fear,” government lawyers wrote in a filing.
Throughout the trial, a New York jury heard testimony from his ex-girlfriends and former associates detailing years of domestic abuse, drug use, and so-called “Freak Offs.”
Cassie Ventura, Combs’s on-and-off girlfriend for more than a decade who took the stand while nine months pregnant, submitted a three-page victim impact statement, urging the judge’s decision to consider “justice and accountability.” She wrote about the violence she endured at his hands, the multi-day “Freak Offs,” and his control over her career.
She branded her relationship with the rapper “a horrific decade of my life stained by abuse, violence, forced sex, and degradation.”
Ventura underscored that even though she’s made progress after the relationship ended, she still lives in fear of his “malice,” she wrote.
Kelly Rissman contributed reporting
