Sean “Diddy” Combs burst into tears while awaiting his sentencing on Friday.
Federal prosecutors’ have recommended a jail term of 11 years and three months. Combs’ defense team had requested 14 months, essentially the time he has already served since his arrest in September 2024.
While hearing final testimony, Combs burst into tears.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs cries during sentencing hearing as judge weighs a potential prison term >> https://t.co/t7BmRLWX9n pic.twitter.com/bjnFIcRthD
— WAFF 48 (@waff48) October 3, 2025
Combs sent a letter to Judge Subramanian on Thursday apologizing for his conduct.
“I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness,” Combs wrote. “The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily. I literally lost my mind. I was dead wrong for putting my hands on the woman that I loved. I’m sorry for that and always will be.”
Combs’ daughter D’Lila sobbed as she addressed the court Friday morning, asking the judge to deliver a sentence that could “heal” their family.
“Our 2-year-old sister is asking, ‘Where dad is?’ the same way we grew up motherless,” D’Lila said. “It’s a hole that can’t be filled. We are tired of being strong. We have already lost so much: our mother, our father. Please, give us the chance to heal together and move forward together.”
All seven of Combs’ children and his mother, Janice Combs, attended the hearing. More than 70 letters from family members, friends, former employees, and business associates were submitted asking Judge Subramanian for leniency.
Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra Ventura submitted a letter to the court expressing fear for her safety if Combs is released.
“I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human,” Ventura wrote. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
Ventura, who dated Combs for nearly 10 years, described it as a “horrific decade of my life stained by abuse, violence, forced sex and degradation.” She testified during the trial that Combs controlled and coerced her to participate in drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts, known as “freak-offs,” against her will.
Hotel security video from 2016 showed Combs kicking, punching and dragging Ventura. Prosecutors showed photos of bruising and other injuries Ventura alleged were inflicted by Combs throughout their relationship.
“I still have nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday basis, and continue to require psychological care to cope with my past. My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality,” Ventura wrote.
A woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” was expected to offer a witness impact statement but decided not to speak. She testified that Combs physically and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions while she worked as his personal assistant from 2009 to 2017.
Federal prosecutors said in a Tuesday filing that Combs deserves a “substantial” prison sentence because he is “unrepentant.”
“Incredibly, while the defendant conceded his acts of violence and abuse throughout trial, he now argues that his victims should shoulder the blame,” the filing stated.
Judge Subramanian rejected Combs’ request Tuesday for a new trial or acquittal, stating the prosecution provided “overwhelming evidence” of his guilt.
“The government proved its case many times over,” Subramanian wrote. “That by itself might be enough to dispose of Combs’s challenge. But the other factors don’t do much to help Combs either.”
Combs’ defense attorneys argued during trial that their client had a history of domestic violence and physical assault but that these crimes did not amount to trafficking or racketeering. They have described the case as a “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” story and claim Combs is now sober for the first time in 25 years.
The defense team forcefully pushed back on victim testimony in a Wednesday filing, calling Jane a liar.
“She lied that she had sexual contact with Sean Combs without her consent. She lied that she was a victim,” the defense team said. “Virtually everything that came out of her mouth was a lie.”
Combs had been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest. Judge Subramanian ordered him to remain in detention while awaiting sentencing, disagreeing with the defense’s argument that Combs’ crimes shouldn’t trigger mandatory detention.