🔗 Share this article

The music mogul Sean Combs is due to receive sentencing on Friday by a US district judge in New York City, following his guilty verdict earlier this 2025 on charges related to prostitution.

This article provides a overview of his criminal case: what he was indicted for, the trial events, and potential next steps.

What Charges Was He Found Guilty Of?

In July, after an eight-week trial, a panel of jurors convicted Combs of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of the most serious charges against him, racketeering and human trafficking, which could have resulted in the possibility of a life sentence.

The charges on which he was convicted each have a maximum penalty of a decade. Combs had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over the trial, will hand down the sentence on Friday, with the court session due to begin at 10:00 AM Eastern Time in a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Combs, fifty-five, has been held without bail at the Brooklyn metropolitan detention center since his arrest in the previous September. Since the decision, the judge has denied multiple bail applications from Combs’s legal team, and earlier this week Subramanian also denied a motion to overturn the convictions.

What Was Combs Accused Of?

Federal prosecutors alleged the music executive of using his power, fame, wealth and influence, and employing intimidation and coercion, to coerce two of his former girlfriends into engaging in sex parties involving drugs with paid companions. Such sessions were often referred to by the defendant as “hotel nights”, which they said Combs organized, observed, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.

The government alleged that for over twenty years, Combs ran a criminal enterprise – assisted by employees and associates – to carry out and conceal offenses including sex-trafficking, drug distribution, bribery and abduction.

Although found guilty on two counts, Combs has disputed wrongdoing. His attorneys have insisted that all sexual activity was mutually agreed and that no criminal enterprise was present.

What Happened At Trial?

The prosecution presented over thirty witnesses, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends – artist Cassie Ventura and a second individual who gave evidence using the alias Jane – who recounted the alleged events in graphic detail, and alleged that Combs pressured and intimidated them into participating.

Ventura was the star prosecution witness. She testified that during her long-term relationship with Combs, he exposed her to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and to extortion. The jury was shown the 2016 video of Combs assaulting Ventura in a hallway. Jane also told the court of a physical confrontation with Combs.

Other witnesses included former employees, male escorts, law enforcement agents, hotel staff and celebrities including rapper Kid Cudi and artist Dawn Richard. Combs chose not to take the stand.

Combs’s legal team admitted past instances of abuse, but denied that any force or trafficking occurred. They maintained that all sexual activity was agreed upon and part of a “swingers’ lifestyle”, and argued that Ventura and Jane were willing participants in the encounters.

How Much Time Might He Face?

Combs’s lawyers have requested the judge for a sentence of no more than 14 months in prison, which, given time already served, would allow for his release by year's end. They claim that Combs has already been “adequately punished” by serving 13 months in the “harsh environment” at the detention center.

Federal prosecutors, however, have sought a minimum of 135 months (11 years and three months) and a $500,000 fine. In court filings, they described Combs as “unrepentant” and said that “his history and characteristics show a pattern of misconduct.

What Statements Were Made In Victim Impact Statements?

The government submitted several victim impact statements to the judge ahead of the sentencing, including one from Ventura.

“Although the jurors did not seem to grasp or accept that I engaged in freak-offs because of the pressure and intimidation the accused used against me, I know that is the reality, and his punishment should reflect the truth of the evidence and my personal experience as a survivor,” Ventura stated.

“I am so fearful that if he is released, his initial steps will be swift retribution towards me and other individuals who testified about his abuse, at court,” she wrote.

“If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe,” she continued. “I hope that your decision takes into account the truths at hand that the panel overlooked.”

What Comes Next?

After sentencing, Combs’s legal team could challenge the sentence. Combs’s team is also likely to appeal his verdict.

Separately, Combs faces numerous civil cases alleging of misconduct and further offenses. He has denied every claim in those proceedings.