Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced Friday to four years and two months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters, capping a sordid federal case that featured harrowing testimony and ended in a forceful reckoning for one of the most popular figures in hip-hop.
Combs, 55, was also fined half a million dollars. Since Combs has served a year in jail already, this sentence means he would be released in about three years. His lawyers wanted him freed immediately and said the time behind bars has already forced his remorse and sobriety.
He was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters, a practice that happened over many years and in different locations. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.
“Why did it happen so long?” U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian asked as he handed down the sentence. “Because you had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught.”
Combs showed no visible change of emotion as he learned his sentence, sitting in his chair and looking straight ahead as the judge spoke. He remained subdued afterward and appeared dejected, with none of the enthusiasm and smiles that accompanied his interactions with lawyers and his family earlier in the day.
In a final word before sentencing, Combs told the judge his years of behavior were “disgusting, shameful” and apologized to the people he hurt physically and mentally. He said his acts of domestic violence were a burden he would have to carry for the rest of his life.
