Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs have released a video of the disgraced mogul they intend to play at his sentencing for prostitution-related charges, portraying him as a doting father. Combs is due to be sentenced Friday in a New York federal court following a dramatic two-month trial that unmasked him as a serial domestic abuser and drug addict.
The 11-minute video, submitted in a court filing at the eleventh hour to Judge Arun Subramanian, is shot in documentary style and features clips of Combs over the years and motivational speeches about his upbringing and career. It includes interviews with associates and friends from his personal and professional life, painting him in a positive light. In one clip, Combs is seen caring for his late partner Kim Porter in the hospital before her death in 2018. The rapper is also filmed playing with his daughters and partaking in charity work.
The former music titan, 55, is facing a potential 20-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him in July on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, also known as the Mann Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years per count. He was acquitted of the more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges. Combs is expected to address the court for the first time at Friday’s hearing, having remained silent throughout his trial.
Combs wrote a four-page letter to the judge on the eve of the trial, claiming that with his mind clear of drugs and alcohol after a year in jail, he can see how rotten he had become before his September 2024 arrest. “Over the past year there have been so many times that I wanted to give up,” he wrote. “There have been some days I thought I would be better off dead. The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn. Prison will change you or kill you – I choose to live.” He expressed remorse for his actions, adding, “I have no one to blame for my current reality and situation but myself.”
Combs apologised for hitting, kicking and dragging his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 – an attack captured on security camera footage shown to jurors repeatedly during his trial. “The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily,” he wrote. “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.” However, Ventura also wrote to the judge and urged him to hand down a tougher sentence, saying she fears “swift retribution” from Combs if he walks free.
