03/10/2025
Diddy Pleads for Mercy, Blames Past on Dr¥gs Ahead of Sentencing
Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has begged a U.S. judge for leniency ahead of his sentencing on Friday, saying his violent past was fuelled by dr¥g addiction and insisting he has changed after 13 months in jail.
In a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, Combs apologised “for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused” and admitted: “I literally lost my mind. I’m sorry for that and always will be. My domestic vi%lence will always be a heavy burden that I will have to forever carry.” He also apologised to another woman, “Jane,” who testified against him, saying he had been “lost in the dr¥gs and the excess. I lost my way. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core.”
The 54-year-old, convicted in July of two pr%stitution charges, faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors want at least 11 years, while his lawyers are pushing for his release this month. Combs argued that “the old me d+ed in jail and new version of me was reborn,” adding he is now sober “for the first time in 25 years” and teaches fellow inmates about business.
But his accusers urged a long sentence, with singer Cassie Ventura warning: “I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up. He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
Prosecutors echoed that view, writing: “The defendant tries to recast decades of abuse as simply the function of mutually toxic relationships. But there is nothing mutual about a relationship where one person holds all the power and the other ends up blo%died and bruised.”
