Lawyers representing hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs have asked a federal appeals court in New York to order his immediate release and overturn his conviction on prostitution-related charges, or alternatively instruct the trial judge to reduce his four-year prison sentence.
In a filing submitted late Tuesday to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, Combs’ legal team argued that the sentencing judge unfairly penalized him by relying on evidence linked to charges for which he was acquitted.
Combs, 56, is currently serving his sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey and is due for release in May 2028. He was cleared of racketeering conspiracy and s£x trafficking charges following a trial that concluded in July, but was convicted under the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting individuals across state lines for sexual offenses.
According to his lawyers, Judge Arun Subramanian effectively acted as a “thirteenth juror” when he sentenced Combs in October to four years and two months in prison, improperly allowing evidence tied to the acquitted charges to influence the punishment.
They emphasized that Combs was found guilty only on two lesser prostitution counts that did not involve force, fraud, or coercion. The defense urged the appeals court to vacate the conviction, grant Combs immediate release, or order a reduced sentence.
“Defendants convicted of these offenses typically receive sentences of less than 15 months, even in cases involving coercion — which the jury did not find here,” the lawyers stated.
They further argued that the judge disregarded the jury’s verdict by concluding that Combs had coerced and exploited his partners and led a criminal conspiracy, resulting in what they described as the harshest sentence ever imposed in a comparable case.
During sentencing, Judge Subramanian said he took into account testimony from two former girlfriends who alleged that Combs abused them and pressured them into s£xual encounters with male workers while he observed and recorded the acts.
At trial, one former partner, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, testified that Combs repeatedly compelled her to engage in degrading encounters with strangers over the course of their decade-long relationship, which ended in 2018. Jurors were also shown video footage of Combs assaulting her in a Los Angeles hotel hallway.
Another former girlfriend, identified only as “Jane,” testified that she felt pressured into similar encounters during what Combs referred to as “hotel nights” between 2021 and 2024.
In delivering the sentence, Subramanian rejected the defense’s portrayal of the events as consensual behavior, saying Combs abused his power and control over women he claimed to love.
“You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically,” the judge said, adding that this abuse was used to impose his will, particularly in relation to the so-called “freak-offs” and hotel encounters.
