A judge sentenced Sean “Diddy” Combs to four years and two months in federal prison Friday for transporting prostitutes across state lines for drug-fueled sex performances he dubbed “freak-offs,” closing the chapter on the music mogul’s yearslong public downfall.

In sentencing Combs to 50 months in prison — of which he’s required to serve 85% — U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said that “exploitation and violence against women must be met with real accountability to promote respect for the law.”

Combs’ reputation and business began to publicly unravel in November 2023. He was sued by his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, federal authorities searched his homes, and a video was leaked to the media showing him beating Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel years earlier.

The following September, Combs was charged with serious crimes, including running a mob-style criminal enterprise that could have put him in prison for life. However, in July a jury acquitted him on the most serious charges and convicted him of two counts of transporting prostitutes across state lines. On Friday, Subramanian said testimony at trial played a role in Combs’ fate.

“To Ms. Ventura and the other brave survivors that came forward, I want to say first, ‘We heard you,’” Subramanian said.

Before he had learned his fate, Combs apologized to Ventura and her family and to “Jane.”

He acknowledged that the 2016 video that showed him beating Ventura triggered many domestic violence victims and that because of his decisions, he was now in prison.

“I lost my freedom. I lost the opportunity to effectively raise my children and be there for my mother,” he said. “I lost my career. I totally destroyed my reputation.”

Sober for the first time in years, Combs, 55, asked Subramanian to let him father his children again and said he did not take his conviction lightly.

His adult children pleaded for leniency, saying he deserved a second chance and that they had seen changes that “feel real and lasting.” Combs dabbed his eyes after his kids spoke. His attorneys then played an 11-minute, glossy video montage of Combs’ good acts, during which they tearfully spoke about his inspirational qualities.

But at the onset of the hearing, Subramanian intimated that he was unmoved by the defense team’s claim that the drug- and sex-fueled parties were completely consensual, saying it was “flatly inconsistent with reality and acceptance of responsibility.”

Combs, the judge said, showed “no remorse” for the crime of which he was convicted — violating the Mann Act by transporting male sex workers across state lines.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said Combs received the sentence he expected based on the conviction. Because Combs has been incarcerated since his arrest last year, he’ll get credit for 13 months served and have to serve at least 85% of the sentence, or at least an additional 2 1/2, Rahmani said.

“Subramanian had a sense of what he was going to do. He allowed to defense to make their arguments and create a lengthy record to avoid issues on appeal that he didn’t give them time,” Rahmani said.

The judge told Combs that a history of good works can’t wash away the record in this case.

“You abused these women. You used that abuse to get your way. The evidence of the abuse is massive. I was sitting right here during the testimony,” Subramanian said.

Combs was also ordered to pay a $500,000 fine.

Federal prosecutors requested Combs be sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, labeling him a master puppeteer. They argued the “relevant conduct” revealed at trial, in which witnesses testified that he beat his girlfriends and gave them illegal drugs, must be considered at sentencing.

“This isn’t just a case about freak-offs or hotel nights,” federal prosecutor Christy Slavik told the judge. “It’s a case with real victims who have suffered real harm at the hands of the defendant. It’s about a man who did horrible things to other people to satisfy his own sexual gratification.”

Slavik said Combs had already booked a speaking engagement next week in Miami as a sign of his hubris.

Before his sentencing, Ventura, Combs’ ex-girlfriend and the trial’s most prominent witness, wrote in a letter to the judge that he should consider “the many lives that Sean Combs upended with his abuse and control.”

“Sex acts became my full-time job,” Ventura wrote in one of seven letters attached to prosecutors’ sentencing request. “His power over me eroded my independence and sense of self until I felt no choice but to submit.”

In court Friday, Slavik recounted testimony from the trial and the lasting impact for those who testified. Ventura still has nightmares and flashbacks and scars on her body. Another ex-girlfriend, identified in court only as Jane, has lasting trauma. And Combs’ former assistant Mia, who alleged she was sexually assaulted, suffers from PTSD, the prosecutor said.

Slavik said Combs cast himself as a victim in a sentencing letter with talk of carrying the heavy burden of his domestic violence.

Combs’ lawyers argued he should be freed by Christmas after serving more than a year in custody.

Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’ attorneys, highlighted his importance as a role model for Black youth, citing his message that you don’t need to sign for a label; you can own it. She passionately spoke of how he had founded three charter schools and said warehousing in prison would be a waste.

In his own letter to the judge ahead of his sentencing, Combs said he was taking “full responsibility and accountability” for his “past wrongs,” and apologized for the pain he’s caused others.

“I have to admit, my downfall was rooted in my selfishness. The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily. I literally lost my mind. I was dead wrong for putting my hands on the woman that I loved. I’m sorry for that and always will be,” Combs wrote. “I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core.”

The legal drama generated global attention and offered a graphic and often violent glimpse into the life of one of the nation’s most powerful music figures and his nearly billion-dollar enterprise.

Prosecutors portrayed Combs and his associates as luring female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Once he had gained their interest, prosecutors said Combs used force, threats of force, coercion and drugs to get them to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes while he occasionally watched.

On the stand, witnesses testified that Combs gave the women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to “keep them obedient and compliant” during the performances.

The government’s case relied heavily on three key witnesses: Ventura, Jane, and his former assistant, identified in court only as Mia.

Prosecutors charged Combs under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO, which requires that a defendant be part of an enterprise involved in at least two overt criminal acts out of 35 offenses listed by the government. Those offenses include murder, bribery and extortion. But RICO cases are challenging to prosecute by design, legal experts say.

At trial, Ventura testified she felt “trapped” in a cycle of physical and sexual abuse by Combs, and that the relationship involved years of beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape. She claimed Combs threatened to leak videos of her sexual encounters with male prostitutes while under the influence of drugs.

One such freak-off led to an infamous hotel beating that was recorded on hotel security cameras. Video footage from that March 2016 night shows Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to protect herself in front of an L.A. hotel elevator bank. He then drags her down the hall by her hooded sweatshirt toward their hotel room.

A second angle from another camera shows Combs throwing a vase toward her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a swollen lip and a bruise that prosecutors showed was still visible during a movie premiere two days later, where she wore sunglasses and heavy makeup on the red carpet.

In the trial, prosecutors said Combs and members of his group worked to cover up the incident. Eddie Garcia, a former InterContinental Hotel security guard, testified that Combs gave him a brown paper bag containing $100,000 in cash for the video.

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