Sean “Diddy” Combs has asked a judge for leniency in a four-page letter ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges, vowing, “I will never commit a crime again.”
“I want to apologize and say how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused others by my conduct,” Combs wrote in the letter that was delivered by his lawyers to Judge Arun Subramanian on the eve of his sentencing hearing and shared by The New York Times. “This has been the hardest two years of my life, and I have no one to blame for my current reality and situation but myself.”
Federal prosecutors are seeking an 11-year prison sentence, citing Combs’ “decades of abuse” and “unchecked violence.” Their filing included a statement from Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who insisted that “the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human,” adding, “He has no interest in changing or becoming better.”
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Combs’ defense attorneys, however, are pushing for a 14-month sentence, which would allow for his immediate release based on time served.
“The scenes and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily,” Combs wrote in his letter to the judge. “I was dead wrong for putting my hands on the woman that I loved. I’m sorry for that and always will be.”
Combs also addressed the woman who took that stand under the pseudonym “Jane,” saying, “I thought I was providing for Jane concerning her and her child, but after hearing her testimony, I realized that I hurt her. For this I am deeply sorry.”
In the letter, Combs described his living conditions in the Metropolitan Detention Center as “inhumane,” citing lack of sunlight, privacy, and clean water, and emphasized how he “made the best” of his time by reading, writing, getting therapy, and starting a six-week program which his fellow inmates dubbed ”Free Game,” that was sanctioned by the Bureau of Prisons: “It truly has been a blessing to do something positive in a negative situation.”
Combs is expected in court this Friday, September 3rd, for his sentencing on the two prostitution-related convictions, which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years for each count. He is expected to speak directly to the judge on his own behalf, and given the tenor of his letter, will likely lean into how he is a changed man after spending months behind bars.
“I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess,” he wrote. “My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core… I would ask Your Honor to make me an example of what a person can do if afforded a second chance.”
