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Sean 'Diddy' Combs sentencing live updates: Combs gets 50 months in prison

Prosecutors argue Combs deserves at least 11 years in prison.

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Last updated: Saturday, October 4, 2025 3:23AM GMT
Sean Diddy Combs gets 50 months in prison

NEW YORK -- Rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison after a jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution in July.

He gets credit for time served since his arrest. Combs has already spent 12 months at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Before his sentence was handed down, Combs tearfully addressed the court and apologized to victims, his children and other domestic violence survivors and begged the judge for mercy.

Federal prosecutors argued Combs deserved at least 11 years in prison, while Combs' attorneys sought time served. Combs has been in custody since his September 2024 arrest.

(ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Oct 03, 2025, 5:33 PM GMT

Combs' kids plea for his release: 'Please give us the chance to rebuild together'

Sean Combs looked toward his children from his seat at the defense table as each of his six adult kids delivered an emotional plea to the judge from the podium.

"He is still our dad, and we still need him present in our lives," Jessie Combs said.

"This is our father. We will love him unconditionally," Quincy Brown said, adding, "My father has learned a major lesson."

"With our dad incarcerated, we have all felt a huge emptiness in our lives," Chance Combs said. "He shares the ways he is working on being a better man and a more patient father."

The train daughters of Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrive at Federal Court, in New York, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.
The train daughters of Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrive at Federal Court, in New York, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.

She also said her youngest sister, Love -- who was born in 2022 -- deserves a "father who tucks her in at night."

D'Lila Combs agreed, saying, "We cannot watch our baby sister grow up fatherless. ... These are the years she will never get back, these are the memories she will never have."

"Please, your honor, please give us the chance to rebuild together," she said.

At the conclusion of their speeches, Judge Arun Subramanian said, "I know how hard it was ... but it was very important for me to hear."

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Oct 03, 2025, 5:18 PM GMT

Children of Sean Combs address the court

After federal prosecutors expressed skepticism about Sean Combs' sincerity, defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland insisted he is remorseful.

"He gets it," Westmoreland said during her emotional attestation to Combs' character and impact.

She singled out "Free Game with Diddy," the six-week course about entrepreneurship that Combs taught to fellow inmates at MDC-Brooklyn.

"Mr. Combs can reach so many more on the outside than he can on the inside. It is of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison," Westmoreland said.

Combs' children then clustered around the podium to address the court.

Quincy Brown, Chance Combs, D'lila Combs and Jessie, the children of Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives to the Manhattan federal court.
Quincy Brown, Chance Combs, D'lila Combs and Jessie, the children of Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives to the Manhattan federal court.

"I ask you to give my father a second chance. A second chance at life, a second chance to right his wrongs, a second chance to be the man he truly is," Justin Combs said. "I humbly ask you to see my father the way I do, the way his family does, the way he truly is."

Christian Combs called his father his "superhero" who taught him to treat women with respect.

"He has changed," Christian Combs said. "Please let my father out."

Jessi Combs, 18, immediately broke down in tears as she introduced herself to the judge.

"Your honor he is still our dad," she said with a quivering voice.

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Oct 03, 2025, 4:55 PM GMT

Defense makes tearful speech about Combs' success, community impact

In a tearful speech, defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland made an emotional appeal to the judge about Sean Combs' business success and impact on the Black community.

"Our community finally had a seat at the table. A voice -- a real voice. After Mr. Combs figured out how to move within that industry, he moved on to help others," Westmoreland said, as her voice occasionally cracked.

Compared to the defense attorney Jason Driscoll's legalistic speech -- which offered a breakdown of what the defense team says are comparable criminal cases to argue for a lighter sentence -- Westmoreland focused solely on Combs' character and impact.

"I want to speak with the court about how he used his success to help others," she said. "Mr. Combs touched many more lives than the court has heard about this last year."

Westmoreland argued that Combs' success as a musician and record label executive showed others what they can accomplish "no matter what race you are."

"By Mr. Combs wearing all of those hats and pouring himself into that label like he did, it sent a message. It sent a message that you can do it. You don't have to be signed to the label, you can be the label," she said. "If Mr. Combs could do it, they could do it, too."

She also spoke at length about Combs' clothing line and his work helping support charter schools in New York.

"Mr. Combs has touched the lives of so many," Westmoreland said. "He has given opportunity to inner city individuals who never had real corporate opportunities."

"He has really inspired a community," she said. "Mr. Combs has inspired generations and generations to follow."

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Oct 03, 2025, 4:38 PM GMT

Defense attempts to make case for a light sentence for Combs

Defense attorneys began their push for a light sentence by underscoring that Sean Combs lacked a financial motive for transporting male escorts across state lines.

Combs hired escorts to have sex with girlfriends so he could watch, often while masturbating, and film.

"For 75 years, long before Sean Combs was even born, the Department of Justice has said, 'As a general rule prosecution should not be instituted in non-commercial cases,'" defense attorney Jason Driscoll said. "Profit motive is essential."

Driscoll argued the law Combs was convicted of violating, the Mann Act, most often involves brothels, sex trafficking rings, pimps and vulnerable victims like minors or undocumented immigrants.

"They're trying to equate Sean Combs to a pimp. He is not," Driscoll said. "He did not commit this Mann Act offense conduct in any way for any type of personal gain."

Instead, the defense compared Combs to a John and argued clients of prostitutes often receive minimal sentences.

Driscoll is the first of four defense attorneys expected to speak on Combs' behalf. Nicole Westmoreland is up next.