Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced Friday to 50 months — just over four years — in federal prison after a Manhattan jury found him guilty in July on two counts of transporting people across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. The sentence also includes a $500,000 fine and five years of supervised release; the judge said the punishment must be “meaningful” to deter similar conduct.
The convictions stem from testimony that Combs arranged drug-fueled sexual events, sometimes filmed, and had male escorts travel to New York for those encounters; prosecutors portrayed the conduct as part of a pattern of coercion and abuse, while defense lawyers argued the encounters were consensual and tied to a permissive “swingers” lifestyle. Combs was acquitted at trial of the more serious racketeering and sex-trafficking charges that had carried much longer potential sentences.
Courtroom scenes were emotional: several of Combs’s adult children begged the judge for leniency, and Combs himself apologized in court, saying he had been “humbled and broken.” But the judge — while noting elements of Combs’s charitable work and public life shown by the defense — said the record at trial demonstrated serious harm to victims and that the sentence needed to reflect that harm. Prosecutors had sought roughly 11 years behind bars; the defense had urged that time already served be deemed sufficient.
Combs, 55, has been jailed since his arrest in September 2024 and will receive credit for the months already served. His lawyers said they plan to appeal the conviction; civil litigation tied to allegations of sexual misconduct also remains pending. The case has prompted wide discussion about celebrity accountability, how courts treat conduct related to acquitted charges at sentencing, and the broader #MeToo-era scrutiny of powerful men in the entertainment industry.
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