Diddy pleads for leniency ahead of sentencing, cites drug addiction and remorse
Convicted rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has appealed to a U.S. judge for leniency ahead of his sentencing on Friday, blaming his past behaviour on drug addiction and claiming he has turned his life around.
Combs, 54, who was found guilty in July on two prostitution charges and faces up to 20 years in prison, submitted a four-page letter to Judge Arun Subramanian on Thursday. Prosecutors are pressing for at least 11 years, while his defence team is seeking his release later this month.
In the letter, Combs apologised “for all of the hurt and pain” he caused and expressed remorse for his violent past, including an assault on former girlfriend Cassie Ventura. “I literally lost my mind,” he admitted, calling his actions a heavy burden he would “forever carry.” He also apologised to another accuser, identified in court as “Jane,” saying he was “lost in the drugs and the excess.”
But his accusers have urged the judge to impose a lengthy sentence, warning of possible retaliation if he is released. Ventura wrote that she is “so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up.”
Combs argued that he has changed during his 13 months in a Brooklyn jail, noting he has been sober “for the first time in 25 years” and now teaches business lessons to fellow inmates. “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn,” he wrote, appealing for mercy “not only for my sake, but for the sake of my children” and his 84-year-old mother, who recently underwent brain surgery.
He is also expected to address the court directly before sentencing. His lawyers plan to show a 15-minute video as part of their case for leniency.
Although a jury acquitted him of racketeering and sex trafficking charges that could have carried a life sentence, prosecutors maintain he remains “unrepentant,” arguing that he has tried to reframe decades of abuse as “mutually toxic relationships.”
