Lawyers for hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs have asked a federal appeals court to order his immediate release and reverse his conviction on prostitution-related charges.
The Appeal
The lawyers filed the appeal late Tuesday. The filing was submitted to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. The lawyers requested the court to order Combs’ immediate release from prison. They also asked the court to reverse the conviction or direct the trial judge to reduce the sentence. Combs, 56, is incarcerated at a federal prison in New Jersey. He is scheduled for release in May 2028.
Allegations of Sentencing Bias
Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking at a trial that ended in July. He was convicted under the Mann Act, which bans transporting people across state lines for any sexual crime. Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced him to four years and two months in prison. The lawyers said the judge acted like a “thirteenth juror” when he imposed the sentence. They argued that evidence surrounding the acquitted charges influenced the punishment.
The lawyers noted that Combs was convicted of two lesser counts, prostitution offenses that did not require force, fraud, or coercion. They wrote that defendants typically get sentenced to less than 15 months for these offenses – even when coercion, which the jury didn’t find here, is involved. They also claimed that the judge defied the jury’s verdict and found Combs “coerced,” “exploited,” and “forced” his girlfriends to have sex and led a criminal conspiracy. These judicial findings trumped the verdict and led to the highest sentence ever imposed for any remotely similar defendant.
Evidence Presented at Sentencing
At sentencing, Subramanian said he considered the treatment of two former girlfriends who testified that the Bad Boy Records founder beat them and coerced them into having sex with male sex workers while he watched and filmed the encounters, sometimes masturbating. Former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura testified that Combs ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship that ended in 2018. Jurors saw video of him dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one such multiday “freak-off.”
The second former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane,” said she was pressured into sex with male workers during what Combs called “hotel nights,” drug-fueled sexual encounters from 2021 to 2024 that also could last days. Subramanian rejected the defense’s attempt to characterize what happened here as merely intimate, consensual experiences, or just a sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll story. He added: “You abused the power and control that you had over the lives of women you professed to love dearly. You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically. And you used that abuse to get your way, especially when it came to freak-offs and hotel nights.”
Kid Cudi’s Testimony
Kid Cudi is breaking his silence on testifying in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial. The rapper joined Alex Cooper on the Aug. 13 episode of “Call Her Daddy” and reflected on how reluctant he was to take the stand.
Key Takeaways
- The appeal asks for immediate release and a reversal of the conviction.
- The lawyers claim sentencing was influenced by evidence from acquitted charges.
- The judge’s findings led to the highest sentence for a similar defendant.
The case remains pending, and the court has not yet heard oral arguments. The outcome could affect future sentencing in similar cases.
