In the hours leading up to his sentencing hearing, Sean “Diddy” Combs submitted a four-page, deeply personal letter to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, expressing profound remorse and appealing for mercy. The music mogul was set to be sentenced after a jury convicted him on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution in July 2025. He was acquitted of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Combs’s letter, penned on the eve of his sentencing, was described as a plea for a second chance. He began by taking full responsibility and accountability for his past wrongs, stating, “I want to apologize and say how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused others by my conduct.”
He specifically addressed his past violent actions, referencing surveillance footage of him assaulting his former girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. He wrote that the images “play over and over in my head daily,” adding, “I literally lost my mind.” Combs also apologized to a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane,” acknowledging, that he hurt her.
Combs attributed his downfall to selfishness, stating he “got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess.” He claimed to be sober for the first time in 25 years and has undergone a spiritual reset and healing process while incarcerated since his arrest in September 2024. He detailed the conditions of his detention at a Brooklyn federal jail, describing them as inhumane due to being locked in one room with 25 other inmates, with no windows, no clean air, and having to boil drinking water due to a lack of clean water. He noted that he lost all of his businesses, his career, and his reputation due to his conduct.
Combs pleaded for mercy not just for himself, but for the sake of his seven children and his 84-year-old mother, who recently had brain surgery. He stated he has missed key family milestones and is scared to death to spend more time away from them, adding, “I no longer care about the money or the fame. There is nothing more important to me than my family.”
Combs concluded his four-page letter by imploring Judge Subramanian to make him “an example of what a person can do if afforded a second chance.”
Combs faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, with each of the two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution carrying a maximum of 10 years.
