Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Will Appeal His Conviction and Prison Sentence

Music|Sean Combs Will Appeal His Conviction and Prison Sentence

Lawyers for Sean Combs filed a court document on Monday saying that they would be appealing his conviction and four-year prison sentence for transportation to engage in prostitution.

The two-page form, known as a “notice of appeal,” was submitted to Federal District Court in New York, and more detailed papers containing the defense’s arguments in support of the appeal are expected to be filed in coming days or weeks.

An appeal would go before a three-judge panel sitting in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

In addition to the prostitution charges, Mr. Combs — the rapper, producer and media mogul also known as Puff Daddy and Diddy — had been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors argued that he had coerced two former girlfriends into participating in elaborate, drug-fueled sex marathons with a series of male escorts.

In July, after an eight-week trial, the jury largely rejected the government’s narrative, acquitting Mr. Combs of the sex trafficking and racketeering charges. But they still convicted him of two counts under the Mann Act, a federal law that makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.

Mr. Combs’s lawyers have railed against the prosecution as targeting the mogul for what they say amounted to consensual sexual activities between adults. They have asserted that his convictions are an outlier in the scope of modern-day prosecutions under the Mann Act, which is often used against pimps who benefit financially from transporting prostitutes.

Before his sentencing on Oct. 3, Mr. Combs’s legal team had argued in court papers that he should be sentenced to no more than 14 months — which, when credited with the more than 12 months he had already served in detention since his arrest, would have allowed him to walk free by the end of 2025.

The prosecution had asked for a sentence of no less than 11 years and three months, calling Mr. Combs “unrepentant” and detailing instances of violence and intimidation that were testified to at his trial.

The two sides of the case had disagreed on the range of evidence that the judge, Arun Subramanian, could consider when imposing a sentence. The defense argued that “acquitted conduct,” or evidence related to the sex trafficking and racketeering charges, could not be considered because he had been acquitted of those offenses.

“Mr. Combs must be sentenced for what the jury convicted him of — interstate transportation of fully consenting adults with intent to engage in prostitution,” his lawyers wrote in a legal brief in September. “But it would be unlawful, and a perversion of justice, for the Court to sentence him as if the jury had convicted him of sex trafficking and RICO, or to increase his sentence based on the Court’s own findings about force or coercion or racketeering.”

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Subramanian said that under the law, “no limitation shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character, and conduct” when deciding an appropriate sentence for a defendant.

Before the judge handed down the sentence, Mr. Combs stood up in court and pleaded for leniency, telling him that “if you give me another chance, I won’t let you down.”

But the judge admonished Mr. Combs for his conduct toward women, saying that he had abused former girlfriends physically and emotionally, and that his offenses had “irreparably harmed two women.”

“A substantial sentence must be given to send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability,” Judge Subramanian said.

Mr. Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison — four years and two months — and the judge imposed a $500,000 fine, the maximum possible.

In response to a request from the defense, Judge Subramanian recommended that Mr. Combs be incarcerated “as close as possible” to the New York metropolitan area and considered for admission to a program for drug and alcohol addiction. The Bureau of Prisons will make a final decision on where Mr. Combs will serve his prison term.

Mr. Combs is currently held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.