Combs’s sentencing came after he was convicted of “transportation to engage in prostitution” in July, for transporting sex workers to what he called “freak-offs” and arranging sexual encounters that involved girlfriends and male sex workers, in an eight-week trial that gripped the nation. 

He was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, which carry the possibility of life in prison. 

According to court documents, Judge Arun Subramanian received letters from supporters and critics, including former girlfriend Caresha Romeka Brownlee, known as “Yung Miami,” who called Combs “a good man.” Singer Cassie Ventura, another former girlfriend whose 2023 civil suit helped spark the investigation, testified in the case and wrote that she “still has nightmares,” urging the judge to impose a harsher sentence.

Prosecutors asked that Combs serve at least 11 years, arguing he has shown no remorse and that his sentence “should reflect the significant psychological, emotional, and physical harm he caused.”

Combs’s defense argued he should serve no more than 14 months, including time he has already served since his September 2024 arrest. His lawyers argued that his “legacy has been destroyed” and he has been punished enough.

In his letter to the court, Combs echoed that plea, apologizing for putting his hands on Ventura and calling himself a changed man who had “lost his way” — a bid for leniency that stood in stark contrast to Ventura’s letter for a harsher sentence.

Legal expert and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani broke down Combs’s sentencing outcome.

“Diddy’s sentence of 50 months was right in the range I predicted,” Rahmani tells the Washington Examiner. “Judge Subramanian signaled early he would consider acquitted conduct, which made an appeal likely but also meant a tougher outcome at sentencing. The defense’s biggest mistake was credibility. They tried to blame victims while also playing for sympathy, which is a strategy that almost never works with a judge. At sentencing, you have to pick a lane — either accept full responsibility and apologize without qualification, or preserve your appeal arguments. Diddy’s team tried to do both, and it backfired.

“Even though he was acquitted of the most serious charges, the judge clearly saw him as a danger to women. This isn’t the end of the legal road for Diddy — he has viable appeal arguments, and his best shot at freedom may ultimately come from a presidential pardon.”

Combs’s defense team contacted the Trump administration about a pardon.

“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” said Nicole Westmoreland, a member of his legal team, to CNN earlier this summer. 

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It is not known who on Combs’s team made the inquiries or with whom they spoke within the Trump administration. Combs, who was once friendly with Trump, saw that relationship sour amid the 2020 election.

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In a follow-up Newsmax interview, Trump dismissed the idea of pardoning Combs, saying, “I was very friendly with him, I got along with him great, and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile,” adding that the strained relationship made a pardon “more difficult to do.”

For the past 13 months, Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, on the same block as Luigi Mangione, who has been accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and where Ghislaine Maxwell and R. Kelly were held. Combs has reportedly shared a room with cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who once ran a company worth billions and was convicted on multiple counts of fraud.