Jane Rosenberg/REUTERS
- Sean "Diddy" Combs is due for sentencing on two prostitution counts on October 3.His lawyers hope some of his former escorts will help in his quest for leniency.His team and federal prosecutors differ widely on how much of the escorts' evidence should be public.
Sean "Diddy" Combs is hoping for sentencing help from an unlikely source: some of the dozens of escorts he hired for "freak offs," men the prosecutors are counting as victims.
As early as Friday, Combs' legal team intends to submit a sentencing brief to the judge, arguing that some of these "entertainers" gave prosecutors never-revealed interviews that actually help the defense.
"We plan to summarize these individuals' accounts to the government for the court," the defense told US District Judge Arun Subramanian in a filing last week.
Federal prosecutors want any pre-sentencing arguments relating to these pretrial interviews to be sealed from the public.
"Statements of non-testifying witnesses are traditionally considered nonpublic," prosecutors argued in a recent court filing. They have asked the judge to count these escorts as victims at a sentencing scheduled for October 3.
Combs' team counters that none of the escorts are victims, and that details from their pretrial, prosecution interviews should not be sealed or even partially redacted.
A prosecution spokesman declined to comment. A defense lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Combs' six-week trial ended July 2. The millionaire rap entrepreneur was found not guilty of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges and convicted of two lesser counts of transporting people across state lines for purposes of prostitution.
Prosecutors say Combs caused multiple people to cross state lines for the dayslong sex performances he called freak offs — not just longtime girlfriends Cassie Ventura and a second ex who testified pseudonymously as "Jane," but male escorts as well.
Two of these escorts testified at trial that they witnessed Combs being violent with Ventura and Jane during freak offs.
But in closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik showed the jury a collage of 27 escorts whom she alleged Combs hired, many of whom were caused by Combs to cross state lines for these encounters.
"This slide shows you just a subset of the strangers who had sex with Jane and Cassie in these rooms for hours and days on end, drugged, covered in oil, sore, exhausted, over and over again," Slavik told the jurors as the escort collage was shown to jurors and the courtroom audience.
All 27 were referred to by photo and by either name or alias during the trial. It's unclear how many of the 27 gave pre-trial interviews to prosecutors, or how many of them prosecutors intend to say were victims when they file their own pre-sentencing brief later this month.
The judge has yet to rule on whether the defense will have to redact the names of these non-witness escorts in their sentencing memo.
The defense has also argued for more time — and more pages — for this all-important sentencing brief. The judge previously set a 25-page limit for both sides and has ordered the defense to have its brief ready by Friday. The defense has asked to submit it on Monday instead.
Combs faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced; the maximum for each of the two counts is 10 years.
Prosecutors have said that they will seek at least five years in prison total.
But that was in July; the number of "victims" will figure into their final sentencing recommendations. Prosecutors have also said they will count the trial evidence of Combs' admitted violence and drug use in their ultimate sentencing recommendation.
The defense has said they will ask for zero jail time, and told Business Insider last month that he is a changed man who hopes to become an anti-domestic abuse advocate. They argued this month that the escorts should not count as victims in the judge's sentencing math.
"The government has taken the view that several consenting male 'entertainers,' who willingly consented to sexual activity with Ms. Ventura and Jane, are now victims" under the meaning of federal sentencing guidelines, defense lawyers wrote this month.
"These individuals did not testify, and we plan to summarize these individuals' accounts to the government for the court."
Combs has been jailed since his arrest in September 2024.
Subramanian has not said when he will rule on the defense requests for more time and pages, or on their request to file any pre-sentencing arguments relating to the escorts without redaction.
