Sean Diddy Combs requests release based on time served following prostitution conviction

Sean “Diddy” Combs has asked a Manhattan judge to release him on time served when he is sentenced next month for violating the Mann Act by transporting escorts across state lines.

The 55-year-old hip-hop mogul has been held at a Brooklyn jail since his September 2024 arrest. His legal team argued in a Monday night filing that he has already endured significant punishment.

“In the past two years, Mr. Combs’s career and reputation have been destroyed. He has served over a year in one of the most notorious jails in America — yet has made the most of that punishment,” his lawyers wrote. “It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family, so he can continue his treatment and try to make the most of the next chapter of his life.”

Combs avoided a potential life sentence in July after jurors acquitted him of racketeering and sex trafficking charges. However, he still faces up to 10 years in prison after being convicted on two counts under the Mann Act. Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over the trial, will determine his sentence on October 3.

The trial revealed Combs’ penchant for so-called “freak-offs”  drug-fueled encounters involving escorts  and detailed his violent abuse of former partners. Jurors saw surveillance footage of Combs assaulting singer Cassie Ventura in 2016, as well as videos and messages connected to his sexual encounters.

Ventura, who brought forward a civil lawsuit in 2023 that sparked the federal investigation, testified that Combs coerced her into repeated sex acts with escorts by threatening to release explicit tapes. Another woman, identified only as “Jane,” described a 2024 incident in which Combs beat her before forcing her into sex with a male escort.

Despite this testimony, the jury cleared Combs of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and of racketeering conspiracy. His lawyers admitted to his history of domestic violence but argued that the government wrongly tried to criminalize his lifestyle as trafficking.

Combs is scheduled to return to court Thursday for a hearing, with prosecutors expected to submit their sentencing recommendation next week.