Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team is set to argue before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday that the judge in his sex crimes trial improperly considered evidence of past abuse and threats toward former girlfriends when sentencing him to more than four years in prison.
Combs, 56, is seeking to have both his conviction and sentence overturned. He is currently serving his 50-month term at a low-security federal prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, was convicted last year on two counts of transporting women to engage in prostitution following a seven-week trial in Manhattan federal court. The trial focused on drug-fueled, days-long sexual performances, sometimes called “Freak Offs,” involving two of his former girlfriends and male escorts. He was acquitted, however, on more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges related to forcing the women—singer Casandra Ventura and a woman identified as Jane—to take part in the encounters.
At the hearing, defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro is expected to argue that Combs’ sentence was improperly enhanced by conduct linked to counts on which he was acquitted. “It was unlawful, unconstitutional and a perversion of justice to sentence Combs as if the jury had found him guilty of sex trafficking and RICO,” Shapiro wrote in court filings. She contends that evidence of threats to Ventura and Jane should not have influenced the sentence.
READ ALSO: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ‘to be released from jail early
Prosecutors disagree, saying the judge was right to consider Combs’ abusive conduct as relevant to the prostitution convictions. “According to Combs, the District Court should have closed its eyes to how he carried out his Mann Act offenses and abused his victims,” prosecutor Christy Slavik wrote. Combs has admitted to abusing his former girlfriends but maintains that incidents of so-called domestic violence were separate from the sexual performances, which he says were consensual. His release is currently scheduled for April 15, 2028.
