NEW YORK (TNND) — Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will learn how much time he spends behind bars on Friday as prosecutors urge the judge to give him 11 years for two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs was convicted in July of flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, in violation of the federal Mann Act, also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act.
The 55-year-old was acquitted of more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that would have put him in prison for life.
Combs’ lawyers argued that the artist has been punished enough and asked the New York federal judge to sentence him to no more than 14 months in jail.
If Judge Arun Subramanian accepts the recommendation, it means Combs would be free less than two months after sentencing on Oct. 3, since he has already spent more than a year in a Brooklyn jail.
In a letter to the judge on Thursday, Combs promised he would never commit another crime if released, saying, “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn.”
His former girlfriend, R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who testified about Combs ordering her to have sex with strangers hundreds of times, also wrote the judge about how Combs’ accusers live in fear of “swift retribution” after they spoke up about the abuse at trial.
“I still have nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday basis, and continue to require psychological care to cope with my past,” Ventura wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News. “My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality. I have in fact moved my family out of the New York area and am keeping as private and quiet as I possibly can because I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial.”
His lawyers have continuously argued throughout the case that the sexual encounters referred to as “freak offs” or “hotel nights” were consensual and that Combs had no financial motive.
Combs was denied bail in July after asking to be released on a $50 million bond.
Subramanian said Combs had not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community.”
Combs is expected to address the court, according to court filings. His defense team is also planning to play a roughly 11-minute video.
