Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has filed paperwork to challenge both his conviction and his 50-month prison sentence.
At the start of the month, the disgraced hip-hop mogul was sentenced to four years and two months in prison following his conviction on federal prostitution-related charges.
Earlier in the summer, 12 New Yorkers acquitted him of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, which carried a potential life sentence. They did, however, find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution involving his two ex-girlfriends, Cassandra Ventura and “Jane”.
On October 3, Judge Arun Subramanian told Combs that the abuse of those women warranted 50 months in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Now, Combs has filed a two-page notice of appeal, challenging both the conviction and the four-year prison sentence.
The form, which was obtained and first reported by Rolling Stone, was filed yesterday (October 20) and lists Alexandra A.E. Shapiro as Combs’ appellate attorney.
It was submitted in Manhattan federal court, and follows on from Shapiro vowing to challenge the court on the day that Combs was sentenced.
The outlet also reported that more in-depth filings laying out the music mogul’s arguments for why his sentence should be overturned are predicted to be submitted to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the next few weeks. From there, the case will go before a three-judge panel.
Since his arrest in September 2024, the Bad Boy Records founder – who had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him – was held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. The 13 months he served in custody heading into the sentencing hearing count toward his 50-month sentence, leaving him with about three more years in prison to serve.
The judge also ordered five years of supervised release following his release from prison.
Before the ruling was handed down, Combs’ lawyers had requested a sentence of no more than 14 months in prison, which, given time already served, would have allowed him to walk free before the end of the year.
Federal prosecutors, however, pushed for a significantly longer sentence, asking the court to impose a sentence of at least 135 months (11 years and three months) and a $500,000 fine. In their filing, the prosecutors described Combs as “unrepentant” and said that “his history and characteristics demonstrate years of abuse and violence”. The US probation department recommended a sentence of five to seven years.
The case has also seen Combs’s attorney Marc Agnifilo dispute his legal teammates’ claims that they had reached out to Donald Trump‘s administration for a potential pardon.
That came after a member of Combs’ legal team had confirmed they had reached out to the White House to ask President Trump to grant Diddy a pardon.
The President has speculated openly about a potential pardon, and back in June said that he would look into a potential pardon for Combs, and that he would “certainly look at the facts”. At the end of September he weighed in again, calling Combs “half-innocent” and saying it’s “more likely a no” that he would be pardoned.
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