Sean “Diddy” Combs has petitioned a Manhattan judge to grant him release on time served when he is sentenced next month, following his conviction under the Mann Act for transporting escorts across state lines.
The 55-year-old music mogul has been held at a Brooklyn detention facility since his September 2024 arrest. In a filing submitted Monday night, his attorneys argued that Combs has already faced severe consequences.
“In the past two years, Mr. Combs’s career and reputation have been destroyed. He has spent more than a year in one of the country’s most notorious jails — yet has made the most of that punishment,” his legal team wrote. “It is time for Mr. Combs to return home to his family, continue his treatment, and begin the next chapter of his life.”
Combs narrowly avoided a potential life sentence in July when a jury acquitted him of racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Still, he faces up to 10 years in prison after being convicted on two counts under the Mann Act. Judge Arun Subramanian, who oversaw the trial, will hand down the sentence on October 3.
The trial exposed details of Combs’ so-called “freak-offs” — drug-fueled encounters involving escorts — and included accounts of physical abuse against former partners. Jurors reviewed surveillance footage of Combs assaulting singer Cassie Ventura in 2016, as well as videos and messages linked to his sexual activities.
Ventura, whose 2023 civil lawsuit triggered the federal probe, testified that Combs coerced her into repeated encounters with escorts by threatening to release explicit recordings. Another witness, identified only as “Jane,” recounted a 2024 incident in which Combs allegedly beat her before forcing her into sex with a male escort.
Despite this testimony, the jury acquitted him of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and of racketeering conspiracy. His defence acknowledged his history of domestic violence but insisted prosecutors had wrongly sought to portray his lifestyle as criminal trafficking.
Combs is due back in court Thursday for a hearing, with prosecutors expected to file their sentencing recommendation next week.
