NEW YORK (news agencies) — In rejecting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ release on bail, a federal judge confronted the hip-hop impresario with a disturbing aspect of his criminal case that his lawyers couldn’t deny: his history of violence.
Combs’ defense lawyers claimed he is a changed man. But Judge Arun Subramanian on Wednesday let the Bad Boy Records founder know that his hopes for freedom soon are slim — even after the jury acquitted him on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him in prison for life.
Subramanian’s words signaled how he may approach sentencing Combs for his convictions on two lesser prostitution-related charges, which each carry a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.
The judge, citing a now-infamous video of Combs beating a former girlfriend and photographs showing injuries to another ex-girlfriend, made clear that he plans to hold Combs accountable for the years of violence and bullying behavior that were exposed at his eight-week trial.
Combs’ punishment is Subramanian’s decision alone, and the judge will have wide latitude in determining a sentence. While judges often adhere to the federal judiciary’s formulaic guidelines meant to prevent disparity in sentences for the same crimes, they are not mandatory.
Combs’ lawyers want less than the 21 to 27 months in prison that they believe the sentencing guidelines recommend. Prosecutors contend that the guidelines, when properly calculated to include Combs’ crimes and violent history, call for at least four to five years in prison.
After tentatively setting Combs’ sentencing for October, the judge said he is open to a defense request that it happen as soon as possible, with further discussions expected at a conference Tuesday.
Combs, his family and his defense team were overjoyed by the verdict, some of them tearing up at the result. Combs pumped his fist in celebration and mouthed “thank you” to jurors. He hugged his lawyers and, after the jury exited, fell to his knees in prayer.
But, by the end of the day, Combs was deflated — his dream of going home after more than nine months in jail thwarted by a judge throwing his own lawyers’ words back in their faces.
“We own the domestic violence. We own it,” Subramanian said, reading from a transcript of Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo’s closing argument to the jury last week. “If he was charged with domestic violence, we wouldn’t all be here having a trial, because he would have pled guilty, because he did that.”
The judge noted the jury had seen a video of Combs viciously attacking then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.
He also noted that another former Combs’ girlfriend — a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” — was left with visible evidence of bruises and injuries after Combs hit her repeatedly in June 2024. That was a few months after federal agents raided two of his homes and “when he should have known that he needed to stay clean.”
The judge said that the beating, which Jane said happened before Combs forced her to have a sexual encounter with a male sex worker, was part of the prostitution-related offenses — violations of the federal Mann Act — that resulted in a conviction.
“This highlights a disregard for the rule of law and the propensity for violence,” he said.
Agnifilo, who had asked the judge to release Combs on a $1 million bond, insisted to Subramanian that Combs had changed dramatically in the last year. As he pleaded with the judge, Combs sat by his side and scribbled notes on small pieces of paper, occasionally handing them to the lawyer.
