NEW YORK (AP) — On the eve of his sentencing, Sean “Diddy” Combs wrote a federal judge Thursday proclaiming himself to be a new man after realizing that he was “broken to my core."
Combs, 55, told Judge Arun Subramanian that with his mind clear of drugs and alcohol after a year in jail, he can see how rotten he had become before his September 2024 arrest in a case that led to his conviction on two prostitution-related counts. His sentencing hearing is set to begin Friday morning.
“Over the past year there have been so many times that I wanted to give up. There have been some days I thought I would be better off dead. The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn. Prison will change you or kill you — I choose to live,” he said.
A jury in July acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges, but he still faces the possibility of years in jail.
Combs’ lawyers say he should go free this month, arguing his year behind bars has been enough of a penalty, while prosecutors want at least 11 years in prison.
In his letter, Combs wrote that he had "no one to blame for my current reality and situation but myself.”
“In my life, I have made many mistakes, but I am no longer running from them,” he wrote. “I am so sorry for the hurt that I caused, but I understand that the mere words ‘I’m sorry’ will never be good enough as these words alone cannot erase the pain from the past.”
Combs apologizes for attacking girlfriend
Combs apologized for hitting, kicking and dragging then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 — an attack captured on security camera.
“The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily,” Combs wrote. “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."
That footage was shown repeatedly during his two-month trial, which also included testimony from women who said Combs had beaten, threatened, blackmailed or sexually assaulted them.
In her letter to the judge ahead of sentencing, Ventura dismissed Combs’ claims of remorse.
“I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human,” she wrote. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
Ventura noted that Combs had denied her allegations of assault until the footage of the beating emerged, and she urged the judge to issue a sentence that “reflects the strength it took for victims of Sean Combs to come forward.”
“I hope that your decision considers the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control,” she wrote.
Combs also apologized to a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane,” saying that “after hearing her testimony, I realized that I hurt her.”
Jane told the jury Combs had chased her around her home, put her in a chokehold, punched her in the head, kicked her as she lay in a ball on the ground, dragged her by her hair and then pressured her into having sex with a male sex worker.
“I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess," Combs wrote. "My downfall was rooted in my selfishness.”
Combs asks judge for mercy
In jail, Combs said, he has been reading, writing, going to therapy, working out and teaching a six-week course to other inmates, “Free Game with Diddy,” imparting his business wisdom, as well as lessons learned from his mistakes and failures.
He vowed to never commit a crime again, telling the judge he’s gone through a “spiritual reset.”
Rather than make an example out of him with a lengthy sentence, Combs implored Subramanian to “make me an example of what a person can do if afforded a second chance.”
“If you allow me to go home to my family, I promise I will not let you down and I will make you proud,” he wrote.
