🔗 Share this article

The music mogul Sean Combs is due to receive his sentence on Friday morning by a US district judge in New York, after his conviction earlier this 2025 on charges related to prostitution.

This article provides a summary of his legal proceedings: what he was indicted for, the trial events, and potential next steps.

What Charges Was He Found Guilty Of?

In July, after an eight-week trial, a panel of jurors convicted Combs of two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution. He was found not guilty of the most serious charges against him, racketeering and sex trafficking, which carried the possibility of a life sentence.

The charges on which he was convicted each carry a maximum sentence of a decade. Combs had pleaded not guilty to every count.

The presiding judge, Arun Subramanian, who presided over the case, will hand down the sentence on the scheduled day, with the court session set to start at 10am ET in a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Combs, 55, has been held without bail at the Brooklyn metropolitan detention center since his apprehension in the previous September. Since the decision, the judge has rejected multiple bail applications from Combs’s legal team, and earlier this week Subramanian also rejected a motion to overturn the convictions.

What Was Combs Accused Of?

Federal prosecutors accused the Bad Boy Records founder of leveraging his status and resources, and employing intimidation and coercion, to force former partners into engaging in sex parties involving drugs with male escorts. Such events were often referred to by the defendant as “freak-offs”, which they said Combs orchestrated, observed, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.

The prosecution alleged that for more than two decades, Combs operated a illegal operation – assisted by staff and allies – to conduct and hide crimes including sex trafficking, drug distribution, corruption and abduction.

Despite being convicted on two charges, Combs has denied any misconduct. His lawyers have maintained that all sexual activity was mutually agreed and that no criminal enterprise existed.

What Transpired At Trial?

The prosecution called over thirty witnesses, including former partners of Combs – singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and another woman who testified using the alias Jane – who recounted the so-called “freak-offs” in graphic detail, and claimed that Combs coerced and threatened them into taking part.

Ventura was the star prosecution witness. She stated that during her long-term relationship with Combs, he subjected her to various forms of mistreatment and to extortion. The court was shown the 2016 video of Combs assaulting Ventura in a corridor. Jane also told the court of a physical confrontation with Combs.

Other witnesses included former employees, male escorts, law enforcement agents, hotel staff and public figures including musician Kid Cudi and artist Dawn Richard. Combs chose not to take the stand.

Combs’s defense attorneys admitted previous incidents of abuse, but denied that any coercion or sex trafficking took place. They maintained that all sexual activity was consensual and part of a “swingers’ lifestyle”, and argued that Ventura and Jane were willing participants in the encounters.

How Much Time Could He Serve?

Combs’s lawyers have requested the judge for a penalty of no more than 14 months in prison, which, given time already served, would permit his release by year's end. They argue that Combs has already been “adequately punished” by serving 13 months in the “terrible conditions” at the facility.

The prosecution, however, have sought a minimum of 135 months (11 years and three months) and a half-million-dollar penalty. In court filings, they portrayed Combs as “showing no remorse” and said that “his history and characteristics show years of abuse and violence.

What Was Said In Victim Impact Statements?

The prosecution submitted several victim impact statements to the judge before the sentencing, including one from Ventura.

“Although the jurors did not seem to understand or believe that I participated in freak-offs because of the pressure and intimidation the defendant used against me, I know that is the reality, and his punishment should reflect the truth of the testimony and my lived experience as a victim,” Ventura wrote.

“I am so fearful that if he is released, his initial steps will be swift retribution towards me and other individuals who spoke up about his abuse, at trial,” she wrote.

“If there is one thing I have gained from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be secure,” she continued. “I hope that your decision considers the truths at hand that the jury failed to see.”

What Comes After Sentencing?

After sentencing, Combs’s attorneys could challenge the decision. Combs’s team is also expected to contest his verdict.

Separately, Combs faces numerous civil cases alleging of misconduct and other misconduct. He has denied every claim in those proceedings.