Sean Combs Writes to The Judge He is Born Again Begs For Leniency
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| These two go back a long ways, both customers of the pedophile Files |
On Friday, he was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for prostitution-related offenses, following a federal trial this summer in which prosecutors accused him of coercing two former girlfriends into participating in elaborate, drug-dazed sexual encounters that could last for days.
Here is the latest. Friday
Sean Combs, the hip-hop mogul who crafted a business empire around his personal brand, appeared on Friday morning in federal court in Manhattan, where Judge Arun Subramanian will sentence him for his conviction on prostitution-related charges.
The hearing comes after an eight-week trial where the jury delivered a split verdict. Mr. Combs, 55, was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges that could have carried a life sentence. He was convicted of two prostitution-related charges that carry maximum sentences of 10 years each. The defense has asked for no more than 14 months imprisonment, while the prosecution has asked for more than 11 years.
On Friday, he was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for prostitution-related offenses, following a federal trial this summer in which prosecutors accused him of coercing two former girlfriends into participating in elaborate, drug-dazed sexual encounters that could last for days.
Judge Arun Subramanian’s legal rulings on calculating sentencing guidelines have largely been losses for Sean Combs. The judge ruled that the hired male escorts involved in freak-offs can be considered victims in the context of sentencing.
And he ruled that Mr. Combs does not get the benefit of having accepted responsibility for his crimes. The judge said the defense’s narrative of freak-offs as nothing more than voluntary sex between consenting adults was “flatly inconsistent with both reality and any acceptance of responsibility.”
Judges must take guidelines into account, but they are not bound by them. Still, the judge’s explanations do not bode well for the defendant.
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At Sean Combs’s sentencing on Friday in Manhattan, the prosecution team was down one lawyer.
During the music mogul’s trial, the person running the case for the government was Maurene Comey, a career federal prosecutor with extensive experience in racketeering and sex crimes cases. But in July, Ms. Comey was abruptly fired by the Trump administrationwithout explanation.
Judge Arun Subramanian is walking through various factors that could enhance Sean Combs’s sentence — each one was its own legal fight between the defense and prosecution. In a decision that does not suggest a good outcome for Mr. Combs, the judge decided to apply a sentencing enhancement relating to coercion.
Citing testimony about Mr. Combs’s threats to release videos of the marathon sexual encounters known as freak-offs, the judge said that the enhancement should apply.
Judge Arun Subramanian immediately addressed a key fight of the sentencing: whether he should factor in the broader scope of evidence of Sean Combs’s conduct, including the many accounts of his violence presented at trial. A rule from the federal sentencing commission that went into effect last year limits judges from considering what is called “acquitted conduct” when calculating sentencing guidelines. But Judge Subramanian said the law allows him to still consider such conduct in fashioning the sentence.
This is a loss for Mr. Combs, whose lawyers tried to get the judge to focus narrowly on the prostitution-related convictions in determining the sentence.
The prosecution said that Mia, a former personal assistant to Sean Combs who accused him of sexually assaulting her, would not speak at the sentencing hearing as planned. That is in part, the prosecution said, because of a letter the defense submitted to the judge seeking to block Mia from speaking, writing that “virtually everything that came out of her mouth” while on the stand during the trial “was a lie.”
Christy Slavik, a prosecutor, said the letter “can only be described as bullying.” Judge Arun Subramanian admonished the defense for the language in the letter, saying “the tone of the defense’s letter was inappropriate.”
The sentencing hearing has begun.
Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over the eight-week trial this summer, said he intends to start by going over the report that the probation office prepared on Sean Combs, and then going through the various legal arguments that will influence his ultimate sentence.
At times during the trial, Sean Combs arrived in court with a broad smile, looking confident. Today his mood appears to be more somber. One lawyer gave him a comforting tap on his back.
Sean Combs just entered the courtroom, hugging and shaking hands with his lawyers. Wearing a light-colored crew-neck sweater and a white-collared shirt, he greeted his family in the gallery, sat down and put his glasses on.
Sean Combs’s mother, Janice Combs, and his six adult children are sitting in the spectators’ gallery. All of them wrote letters of support asking for his release. Noting that she did not excuse her son’s wrongdoing, his mother wrote to the judge, “I appeal to the kindness of your heart to allow my son to be able to sit at a dinner table with his family.”
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When Sean Combs was arrested in September 2024, he traded a life of mansions and luxury hotels for a bleak, dormitory-style unit lined with bunk beds at a federal jail in Brooklyn.
For about a year, Mr. Combs has been living on the fourth floor of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where high-profile inmates often coexist with government informants and others who need to be separated from the general jail population.
Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, wrote a letter asking the judge to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control” in deciding the music mogul’s sentence. You can read the full text here.
Read the document
Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, wrote a letter asking the judge to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control” in deciding the music mogul’s sentence.
READ DOCUMENT 3 PAGES to the judge.Sean Combs made a plea for leniency in a letter to a federal judge on Thursday ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges. You can read the full text here.
Sean Combs’s Letter to the Judge
Sean Combs made a plea for leniency in a letter to a federal judge on Thursday ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges. Here is the full text.
READ DOCUMENT 4 PAGES
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