Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs poised to learn his fate at sentencing hearing on Friday

By Kara Scannell, Lauren del Valle, CNN

(CNN) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to be sentenced Friday morning for his federal conviction on two prostitution-related charges.

He’s been jailed in a federal detention facility in Brooklyn, New York since his arrest in September of last year and faces up to 10 years in prison for each count of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs was convicted for transporting two of his former girlfriends to have sex with paid male escorts at drug-fueled nights called “Freak Offs” or “hotel nights.”

A jury in July acquitted Combs of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, allowing him to avoid a possible life sentence.

Attorneys for the government and Combs’ defense will address their sentencing recommendations at the hearing.

Combs submitted a four-page letter to the judge on the eve of his sentencing, expressing remorse for certain violent behavior and pleading with the judge for mercy. Combs’ attorneys have indicated that he also wishes to address the court before Judge Subramanian issues his sentence – a right of every defendant, though not required. In additional, his lawyers said they want to play a 15-minute video.

Combs’ mother and adult children, who attended most of the eight-week trial, are expected to be at the hearing to support him, a source close to Combs told CNN.

Federal prosecutors say Combs has shown no remorse for his convicted crimes and are seeking a sentence of more than 11 years in prison. They’ve argued he deserves a steep sentence for physically and mentally abusing his girlfriends and employees for years.

Combs’ attorneys, meanwhile, asked Judge Arun Subramanian to sentence him to no more than 14 months, essentially the time he’s already served, arguing the judge shouldn’t consider any evidence related to the charges he was acquitted of, including testimony about his alleged coercion of the victims.

The US probation department has recommended a sentence ranging between five and seven years in prison in this case. Victims of crimes are also routinely allowed to address the judge in what are known as victim impact statements at a sentencing.

It is unlikely that Combs’ former girlfriends, Casandra Ventura or a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane, will address the court at the hearing.

Ventura, in a letter submitted ahead of the proceedings, urged the judge to consider the victims in his sentence. She wrote that she fears for the safety of herself and her family if Combs is released. She told the judge she is keeping “as private and quiet” as possible for fear of retribution. Jane did not submit a letter weighing in on Combs’ possible punishment.

Judge Subramanian granted a request from a former employee of Combs to speak at the sentencing. The employee, who testified under the pseudonym Mia, worked for Combs from 2009 to 2017 and alleged that she was assaulted by the music mogul.

Prosecutors asked the judge to let Mia address the court for about five minutes, even though her allegations are not tied directly to Combs’ conviction. The defense opposed the request and accused the woman of lying about being a victim.

Late Wednesday, Combs’ lawyers submitted a letter from another former girlfriend who was identified as “Victim 3” in the case. Prosecutors intended to call her to testify at the trial but just days before it began, they indicated to the judge they had been unable to reach her.

The woman, Virginia Huynh, who is known as Gina, wrote to the judge that she wasn’t a victim of sex trafficking and expressed that to the prosecutors during three meetings.

“I felt pressured to feel like a victim,” Huynh wrote of her interactions with prosecutors. “I told them I was not but they insisted that I was, even when I expressed my truth otherwise.”

The letter was submitted by Combs legal team along with several others. Huynh said she was not asked to write the letter.

After the parties address Combs’ impending sentence, Judge Subramanian will seal his fate at the end of the hearing and likely explain the reasoning behind his decision.

Prosecutors have said the judge should consider Combs’ history of physical violence and control of his two former girlfriends Ventura and Jane, saying it is part of the transportation crime he was convicted of.

Combs’ defense team acknowledged the physical abuse at trial but also argued that the domestic violence in his relationships didn’t amount to the sex trafficking charges he had faced.

Judge Subramanian refused to grant bail twice since the jury returned its verdict, citing Combs’ history of violence and the defense team’s admissions about it.

The judge also denied Combs’ request to vacate his conviction or retry him on the prostitution-related charges in an order earlier this week.

Combs lived a “high-octane celebrity lifestyle” with chronic substance abuse problems for decades before his arrest, his attorneys wrote in his sentencing submission. “Without minimizing Mr. Combs’s conduct, this is in many ways a ‘sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll’ story.”

Now, his defense team claims Combs is a changed man who is sober for the first time in 25 years and has used the last year in detention to reform himself without any violent incidents.

Combs’ family, friends, former employees and business associates from Bad Boy Entertainment and Combs Enterprises submitted more than 70 letters to ask Judge Subramanian for leniency on his behalf.

In her own letter submitted to Judge Subramanian, Ventura said she doesn’t believe Combs has changed and fears his vengeance when he’s released from prison.

“I know that who he was to me—the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker—is who he is as a human. He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is,” she wrote to the judge.

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