The choose overseeing Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial has denied the rapper’s request to overturn his two prostitution-related convictions—which means that the music mogul’s deliberate sentencing will go forward on Friday.
Diddy’s legal professionals had submitted a movement to toss out his convictions on two counts of transportation to interact in prostitution or grant him a brand new trial, and arguments for and towards this movement had been heard by U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian in a Manhattan courtroom final week.
Every of the convictions carries a most sentence of 10 years in jail.
After a number of days of deliberation—and simply hours earlier than the 55-year-old rapper is because of be sentenced—Decide Subramian has turned down the request, rejecting the protection’s argument that the prosecution didn’t present sufficient proof to show that Diddy was transporting folks for the aim of paying for intercourse.
In accordance with USA Immediately, the choose stated that the proof supplied by the prosecution to help their costs was “overwhelming.” He additionally rejected Diddy’s attorneys’ try to limit the definition of “prostitution.”
Which means that Diddy’s sentencing will now go forward as deliberate—with the prosecution beforehand stating in a memo to Decide Subramian that they really feel he deserves no less than 11 years in jail, noting within the doc that they consider he’s “unrepentant.”
In the meantime, the rapper’s ex, Cassie Ventura, whom he was convicted of transporting for prostitution, has requested the choose to keep in mind “the various lives that Sean Combs has upended along with his abuse and management,” in accordance with The New York Occasions.
Ventura’s testimony was a key piece of proof within the prosecution’s case throughout Diddy’s trial, which concluded on July 2, when the jury handed down their verdict—declaring him responsible on two prostitution-related counts, however clearing him of the 2 extra critical costs of intercourse trafficking and one rely of racketeering conspiracy.
Diddy, who was indicted in Manhattan in September 2024, had pled not responsible to all costs towards him—along with his legal professionals arguing that he had not engaged in any nonconsensual intercourse acts.
The prosecution additionally revealed a trove of photos taken inside every of Diddy’s properties throughout Homeland Safety raids that came about in March, when brokers found an array of disturbing objects, together with circumstances of child oil, pharmaceuticals, and AR-15 weapon components.
Additionally they shared many particulars concerning the illicit “freak off” events that Diddy is accused of holding in each of the abodes—one in every of which is presently available on the market for $61.5 million.
Within the indictment towards Diddy, authorities accused him of utilizing his “energy and status” to “abuse, threaten and coerce girls … to meet his sexual needs” throughout these occasions.
Additionally they claimed that the musician “created a legal empire” that “engaged in, and tried to interact in … intercourse trafficking, compelled labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Prosecutors alleged that on the coronary heart of this “legal empire” had been Diddy’s “freak off” events, which the indictment described as “elaborate and produced intercourse performances” that concerned girls being coerced into intercourse and drug abuse. The indictment alleged that Diddy saved video of those occasions to stop any of the individuals from coming ahead with complaints.
“Freak-off exercise is the core of this case, and freak-offs are inherently harmful,” prosecutor Emily A. Johnson stated throughout a listening to in September.
Authorities claimed that Diddy held these “freak-offs” in numerous areas, together with at his Holmby Hills mansion, his property on Miami’s unique Star Island, in addition to a number of resort rooms. Brokers are stated to have discovered greater than 1,000 bottles of child oil and several other firearms throughout their raids on his two properties.
In her letter to the choose, Ventura referred to as consideration to those occasions, stating that, whereas the jury didn’t discover Diddy responsible of the sex-trafficking offenses, she maintains that her participation within the rapper’s “freak offs” was the results of his “coercion.”
“Whereas the jury didn’t appear to grasp or consider that I engaged in freak-offs due to the drive and coercion the defendant used towards me, I do know that’s the reality, and his sentence ought to replicate the fact of the proof and my lived expertise as a sufferer,” she wrote.
Diddy has been behind bars in a Brooklyn jail since his September 2024 arrest—having had his preliminary plea for bail rejected quickly after he was taken into custody.
The rapper supplied to publish a $50 million bond to safe his launch from jail, stating that he would use his Miami mansion, which was valued at $48 million in bail plea, as collateral, in addition to a $2 million property owned by his mom.
Diddy additionally supplied to restrict his journey to Miami and New York Metropolis, and claimed that he would hold his personal jet—which he stated he was making an attempt to promote—parked in Los Angeles, to restrict flight threat.
In the meantime, the musician’s Holmby Hills dwelling, which he purchased for $39 million in 2014, was put available on the market simply days earlier than his arrest and the itemizing has remained lively all through his subsequent trial.
Regardless of Diddy being discovered responsible on two counts, the rapper can nonetheless proceed with the sale of the house, in accordance with authorized consultants—nonetheless, what turns into of the cash from a sale might nicely be left within the palms of the authorities.
“Usually talking, he can promote his dwelling, however given the authorized motion mounting towards him, the court docket will doubtless have a say in how the proceeds are disbursed,” Cara Ameer, an agent with Coldwell Banker in California, beforehand revealed to Realtor.com®.
Nevertheless, if a purchaser comes ahead within the wake of Diddy’s conviction, the federal authorities “can put a lien on the asset” and have a say in the place the cash goes, Justin Paperny, a disaster supervisor for White Collar Recommendation, defined.
Paperny added that Combs might additionally use the cash from any sale to supply a settlement to victims, which can assist him to obtain a lighter sentence.
“You may’t purchase your means out of jail, however when you provide you with a bit of cash, it helps,” he stated.
The authorized skilled famous that, if Diddy was discovered responsible, he would want to supply up “an enormous quantity to the courts to get leniency” in his sentencing—a quantity that might nicely be bolstered by the sale of the notorious dwelling.
Ameer additionally identified that Combs could nicely find yourself with sky-high authorized prices and will nicely want the cash from the sale of his dwelling as a way to cowl them.
“It is likely to be he has to promote his dwelling to pay for his authorized prices in addition to restitution that’s being looked for his victims,” she stated. “He could find yourself having to liquidate a variety of his property if he can’t afford to pay out of pocket. A court docket could have oversight of the place the proceeds from the sale go in that occasion.”
Nevertheless, given the stigma across the property, a sale at his desired worth is likely to be a tricky hill to climb.
If Combs takes the house off the market, he might all the time hire it out as a “trophy property,” Paperny famous, explaining that notable shoppers of his, with high-end properties, have made their actual property accessible on Airbnb for as a lot as $20,000 an evening.
He added of the present asking worth that Combs “may very well be asking an excessive amount of. Folks may not need the affiliation to him.”
