A SENTENCING date for Sean “Diddy” Combs has been set after the music mogul was convicted of two prostitution-related charges at his high-profile trial.
Combs, who was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, will be sentenced on October 3.
A courtroom sketch, showed Sean Combs’ reaction after he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges[/caption]
Combs attends Day 1 of 2023 Invest Fest at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta in August 2023[/caption]
Combs faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence – 10 years for each count of transportation to engage in prostitution.
However, federal prosecutors have said they would seek a 5 to 3 year sentence.
The time Combs has already served in jail, which will be over a year since his arrest in September 2024, would be credited to the ultimate sentence the judge imposes.
Combs’ defense team initially sought to expedite Combs’ sentencing after Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over the seven-week trial, denied to release the Bad Boy Records founder, 55, on bail.
In a letter to Judge Subramanian, Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lead attorney, requested a September 22 sentencing date before eventually agreeing to October 3 – the date the judge initially set for sentencing.
It’s unclear why the defense abandoned its efforts to expedite Combs’ sentencing.
Combs will remain housed in the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn while he awaits sentencing.
SHOCKING VERDICT
A jury acquitted Combs of the most serious charges he faced – racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking in regards to Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane,” a pseudonym used for one of Combs’ ex-girlfriends.
The music executive fell to his knees in prayer after the jury foreperson read the stunning verdict to the courtroom on July 2.
In their blistering closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise” who used his expansive “wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted.”
“He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law,” Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said, adding, “It was his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him.”
The core evidence of the prosecution’s case was the disturbing and graphic nature of the drug-fueled “freak-offs” that at times Combs allegedly coerced his ex-girlfriends to participate in with male escorts.
Slavik described to jurors how Combs forced his former lovers Ventura and “Jane” into participating in the punishing sex marathons and with the help of an inner circle of “loyal lieutenants” covered up the alleged crimes.
Ventura and Jane were sometimes required to perform the lewd acts, which were also called “hotel nights and wild king nights,” while they were hurting from urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to prosecutors.
On the other hand, Combs’ defense team slammed the prosecution’s case as an attack on “your bedroom” and one’s sex life.
Agnifilo, Combs’ lead attorney, summarized the seven-week trial as a “tale of two trials,” arguing one side is the one told by the evidence of the case, by witnesses, videos, and text messages, and the other was a “badly, badly, exaggerated” story told by prosecutors.
The defense attorney argued the sexual encounters involving Combs, Ventura, “Jane,” and male escorts were consensual, and called the “freak-offs,” which were sometimes video recorded, “homemade porn.”
“You want to call it swingers, you want to call it threesomes, whatever you want to call it, that is what it is – that’s what the evidence shows,” Agnifilo told the jury.
“He did what he did. But he’s going to fight to the death to defend himself from what he didn’t do.”
More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.
Like us on Facebook at TheSunUS and follow us on X at @TheUSSun
