Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces years in jail at sentencing in ‘freak-off’ case

Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will be taught Friday how lengthy he’ll serve in jail for transporting prostitutes throughout state strains to interact in drug-fueled sexual performances that he dubbed “freak-offs.”

His sentencing comes a 12 months after federal prosecutors unsealed a sweeping indictment that painted Combs’ Unhealthy Boy Leisure as a mob-style operation designed to permit him to intercourse visitors girls for his personal need. However in July, a jury cleared him of probably the most severe expenses — racketeering and intercourse trafficking — following a weeks-long federal legal trial in New York.

Nonetheless, the eight males and 4 girls discovered Combs, 55, responsible of two counts of transportation for prostitution, every carrying a most sentence of 10 years.

Federal prosecutors are asking U.S. District Court docket Decide Arun Subramanian to condemn Combs to 11 years and three months and a $500,000 high-quality.

They argue the “related conduct” revealed at trial, the place witnesses testified he beat his girlfriends and gave them unlawful medication, have to be thought of at sentencing. The prostitutes participated in drug-fueled sexual performances dubbed “freak-offs” with Combs’ then-girlfriends.

“The defendant tries to recast many years of abuse as merely the perform of mutually poisonous relationships,” the prosecutors wrote. “However there’s nothing mutual a few relationship the place one particular person holds all the ability and the opposite ends bloodied and bruised.”

Combs’ ex-girlfriend and the trial’s most outstanding witness, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, wrote in a letter to the decide that he ought to take into account “the various lives that Sean Combs upended along with his abuse and management…”

“Intercourse acts grew to become my full-time job,” Ventura wrote in one among seven letters connected to prosecutors’ sentencing request. “His energy over me eroded my independence and sense of self till I felt no selection however to submit.”

In his personal letter to the decide forward of his sentencing Friday, Combs stated he was taking “full duty and accountability” for his “previous wrongs,” and apologized for the ache he’s brought on others.

“I’ve to confess, my downfall was rooted in my selfishness. The scene and pictures of me assaulting Cassie play again and again in my head each day. I actually misplaced my thoughts. I used to be useless mistaken for placing my palms on the lady that I liked. I’m sorry for that and all the time will probably be,” Combs wrote. “I misplaced my approach. I acquired misplaced in my journey. Misplaced within the medication and the surplus. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I’ve been humbled and damaged to my core.”

After the July 2 verdict, Combs fell to his knees and positioned his head on his chair as if in prayer. “Mr. Combs has been given his life by this jury,” protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo instructed the decide.

The authorized drama generated international consideration and supplied a graphic and sometimes violent glimpse into the lifetime of one of many nation’s strongest music figures and his almost billion-dollar enterprise.

Through the trial, jurors heard from three girls, his two former girlfriends and a private assistant, who described a tradition throughout the empire that prosecutors likened to a mob-style racketeering operation.

Prosecutors portrayed Combs and his associates as luring feminine victims, usually below the pretense of a romantic relationship. As soon as he had gained their curiosity, prosecutors stated Combs used pressure, threats of pressure, coercion and medicines to get them to interact in intercourse acts with male prostitutes whereas he sometimes watched.

On the stand, witnesses testified that Combs gave the ladies ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to “preserve them obedient and compliant” in the course of the performances.

The federal government’s case relied closely on three key witnesses: Combs’ onetime lover, Ventura, whose 2023 civil lawsuit started the unraveling of Combs’ empire; his most up-to-date ex-girlfriend, who was recognized solely as Jane; and his former assistant, recognized in court docket solely as Mia.

Prosecutors charged Combs below the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, generally known as RICO, which requires {that a} defendant be a part of an enterprise concerned in no less than two overt legal acts out of 35 offenses listed by the federal government. These offenses embrace homicide, bribery and extortion. However RICO circumstances are difficult to prosecute by design, authorized consultants say.

At trial, Ventura testified she felt “trapped” in a cycle of bodily and sexual abuse by Combs, and that the connection concerned years of beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape. She claimed Combs threatened to leak movies of her sexual encounters with male prostitutes whereas below the affect of medicine.

One such freak-off led to an notorious resort beating that was captured on resort safety cameras. Video footage from that March 2016 night time exhibits Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to guard herself in entrance of an L.A. resort elevator financial institution. He then drags her down the corridor by her hooded sweatshirt towards their resort room.

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A second angle from one other digital camera captures Combs throwing a vase towards her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a swollen lip and a bruise that prosecutors confirmed was nonetheless seen throughout a film premiere two days later, the place she wore sun shades and heavy make-up on the crimson carpet.

Within the trial, prosecutors stated Combs and members of his group labored to cowl up the incident. Eddie Garcia, a former InterContinental Resort safety guard, testified that Combs gave him a brown paper bag containing $100,000 in money for the video.

Combs’ protection workforce was aggressive in cross-examination, hammering witnesses about why they didn’t report the movie star on the time or just go away him.

His legal professionals stated the sexual encounters along with his girlfriends have been consensual, and Ventura was in a long-term relationship. The resort incident was a disagreement over a cellular phone and never a part of a sexual encounter.