Sean “Diddy” Combs deserves 11 years in prison, federal prosecutors say, citing “decades of abuse” by the “unrepentant” rap mogul – and a letter from Cassie Ventura calling him a “cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man.”
In court filings late Monday, prosecutors urged Judge Arun Subramanian to impose a prison term of “no less than 135 months” following the June verdict, where Combs was acquitted of more serious sex trafficking charges but convicted on lesser prostitution charges.
Diddy’s lawyers have asked the judge to reject such “draconian” punishment and release him almost immediately, citing the partial acquittal. But the feds say he still deserves a lengthy sentence after the trial revealed years of “unchecked violence” by the rapper.
“The defendant tries to recast decades of abuse as simply the function of mutually toxic relationships,” prosecutors wrote. “But there is nothing mutual about a relationship where one person holds all the power and the other ends up bloodied and bruised.”
Notably, the filing included a sworn statement by Ventura, the star’s ex-girlfriend and primary alleged victim. In it, she urged the judge to disregard claims by defense attorneys that Diddy is a “changed man” who deserves a second chance.
“I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human,” Ventura wrote. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
Combs was arrested and charged in September 2024 with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking violations over accusations that he ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating “freak-offs” — elaborate events which he allegedly forced Ventura and other women to have sex with male escorts while he watched and masturbated.
Following a blockbuster trial this spring, jurors cleared Combs on the RICO and sex trafficking charges that could have seen him sentenced to prison for life. But he was still convicted on two other counts for transporting Ventura and others across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.
With sentencing set for Friday, Diddy’s lawyers asked last week for a 14-month sentence, which would see him released almost immediately thanks to time-served. They argued the judge must take into account that the star was cleared of the ugliest charges.
“The government accused Sean Combs of heinous crimes. It branded him an evil trafficker and racketeer who coerced and defrauded his girlfriends into having sex against their will. But none of that was true,” his lawyers write. “Put simply, the jury has spoken.”
But in Monday’s response, prosecutors said the judge can still take into account Diddy’s overall history of violence and the way he committed his prostitution offenses.
“The defendant will not be punished for any crimes of which he was acquitted, of course, but punishment for his crimes of conviction must take into account the manner in which he committed them,” the feds wrote. “Defendants who perpetrate violations of the Mann Act involving such violence and fear regularly face significant penalties.”
