The hip-hop mogul was convicted of flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after being found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The hip-hop mogul was convicted in July of flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, in violation of the federal Mann Act.
The 50-month sentence was imposed by US District Judge Arun Subramanian at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. Combs, 55, had faced up to 20 years behind bars.
A jury previously acquitted Combs of more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him away for life.
Judge Subramanian twice rejected bail for the rapper, who has been jailed at a federal detention centre in Brooklyn since his arrest a year ago.
The sentencing comes after a nearly two-month trial featuring testimony from women who described being beaten, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed by Combs.
A former girlfriend, R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, said Combs ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship.
The jury was repeatedly shown video clips of Combs dragging and beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one of those multiday sexual marathons, which she referred to as “freak-offs” during her four days of testimony.
A woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” told jurors she too was subjected to violence and felt obligated to perform sexually with male sex workers at drug-fueled “hotel nights” which Combs watched and sometimes filmed.
To support their racketeering case, prosecutors also brought on witnesses who testified about other violent acts. A former personal assistant testified that Combs raped her. One of Cassie’s friends told the jury Combs dangled her from a 17th floor balcony.
The rapper Kid Cudi testified that Combs broke into his home after learning he and Cassie were dating.
Although the jury acquitted Combs of racketeering, the judge was still allowed to consider that testimony as he decided the sentence.
Subramanian also considered letters submitted by Combs and some of his accusers.
In his letter to the judge Thursday, Combs promised he would never commit another crime if released, saying: “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn.”
In her letter, Cassie called Combs a manipulative abuser who has “no interest in changing or becoming better.”
“He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is,” she wrote
Combs’ lawyers argued that the sexual encounters were consensual and that being in jail had hastened his sobriety, forcing him to learn from his misbehavior. They said there was no need for him to remain behind bars because he had already been punished enough.
At a court hearing last week, Combs seemed buoyant, as he told his mother and children that he is “getting closer to going home.”
