US prosecutors seek more than 11-year sentence for Sean 'Diddy' Combs

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. federal prosecutors urged a judge on Tuesday to sentence Sean "Diddy" Combs to more than 11 years in prison this week following the hip-hop mogul's conviction on prostitution-related charges. Combs, 55, faces up to 20 years behind bars after a jury on July 2 found him guilty following a two-month trial on two counts of transporting male prostitutes across state lines to engage in drug-fueled sexual performances with his girlfriends while he watched, recorded video and masturbated. The jury acquitted Combs on the most serious counts he faced, racketeering and sex trafficking, charges that could have landed him in prison for life. Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to appeal his conviction. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian is due to sentence Combs during a hearing on Friday in Manhattan. Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said a 135-month sentence was appropriate despite his acquittals on the more serious counts because the evidence at trial showed he had physically beaten his girlfriends and given them illegal drugs.  "The defendant tries to recast decades of abuse as simply the function of mutually toxic relationships," the prosecutors wrote. "But there is nothing mutual about a relationship where one person holds all the power and the other ends up bloodied and bruised."  His defense lawyers last week urged the judge to impose a 14-month sentence, arguing that Subramanian should not consider evidence of abuse by Combs of his former girlfriends because jurors acquitted him of coercing them into sex. Under such a sentence, Combs would be released by the end of the year because he would be credited for the time already spent in jail at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center following his September 16, 2024 arrest. Combs founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with popularizing hip-hop in American culture. During the trial, prosecutors said Combs coerced two of his former girlfriends to take part in the performances, sometimes known as "Freak Offs."  Both women testified that Combs physically attacked them and threatened to cut off financial support if they resisted the encounters. One of them, the rhythm-and-blues singer Casandra Ventura, said in a letter to Subramanian that Combs used violence, threats and drugs to "trap" her into taking part in the Freak Offs starting when she was 19 years old.    "Sex acts became my full-time job, used as the only way to stay in his good graces," Ventura wrote. "His power over me eroded my independence and sense of self until I felt I had no choice but to submit."  Lawyers for Combs argued there was no direct link between what they called domestic violence and the women's participation in the Freak Offs, a strategy that ultimately resulted in their client's acquittal on the sex trafficking and racketeering counts.     (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Will Dunham and Mark Porter)

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