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The music mogul Sean Combs is scheduled for sentencing on Friday by a federal judge in New York, after his guilty verdict earlier this 2025 on charges related to prostitution.

This article provides a recap of his legal proceedings: the charges he faced, the trial events, and potential next steps.

What Charges Was He Found Guilty Of?

In July, after an eight-week trial, a panel of jurors found Combs guilty of two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution. He was acquitted of the more severe allegations against him, racketeering and human trafficking, which could have resulted in the possibility of a life sentence.

The offenses on which he was found guilty each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. Combs had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Judge Arun Subramanian, who presided over the trial, will hand down the sentence on Friday, with the hearing set to start at 10:00 AM Eastern Time in a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.

Combs, fifty-five, has been detained without bond at the Brooklyn detention facility since his arrest in September last year. Since the decision, the court has rejected two bail requests from Combs’s legal team, and earlier this week Subramanian also rejected a motion to overturn the guilty verdicts.

What Allegations Was Combs Accused Of?

Government attorneys accused the Bad Boy Records founder of using his power, fame, wealth and influence, and employing intimidation and coercion, to force two of his former girlfriends into engaging in sex parties involving drugs with male escorts. Such sessions were often referred to by the defendant as “freak-offs”, which they said Combs organized, observed, masturbated to and occasionally recorded.

The government alleged that for more than two decades, Combs ran a criminal enterprise – assisted by staff and allies – to carry out and conceal crimes including sex-trafficking, drug dealing, corruption and abduction.

Although found guilty on two charges, Combs has disputed wrongdoing. His attorneys have insisted that every encounter was consensual and that no illicit organization existed.

What Happened At Trial?

The prosecution presented more than 30 witnesses, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends – artist Cassie Ventura and a second individual who gave evidence under the pseudonym of “Jane” – who recounted the so-called “freak-offs” in graphic detail, and claimed that Combs coerced and threatened them into taking part.

Ventura was the star prosecution witness. She stated that during her long-term relationship with Combs, he subjected her to various forms of mistreatment and to extortion. The court was presented with the 2016 video of Combs assaulting Ventura in a corridor. Jane also testified of a physical confrontation with Combs.

Additional testimony included ex-staff, male escorts, police officers, hotel staff and public figures including rapper Kid Cudi and artist Dawn Richard. Combs chose not to take the stand.

Combs’s defense attorneys admitted past instances of domestic violence, but disputed that any force or sex trafficking took place. They argued that every sexual act was consensual and part of a “alternative lifestyle”, and argued that Ventura and Jane were willing participants in the sex acts.

How Much Time Might He Face?

Combs’s lawyers have asked the judge for a penalty of no more than 14 months in jail, which, given time already served, would permit his freedom by year's end. They argue that Combs has already been “adequately punished” by spending over a year in the “terrible conditions” at the detention center.

Federal prosecutors, however, have sought at least 135 months (11 years and three months) and a half-million-dollar penalty. In legal documents, they portrayed Combs as “unrepentant” and said that “his background and behavior” demonstrate a pattern of misconduct.

What Was Said By the Victims?

The government submitted several victim impact statements to the judge before the sentencing, including one from Ventura.

“Although the jurors did not seem to grasp or accept that I participated in freak-offs because of the force and coercion the accused used against me, I know that is the reality, and his sentence should account for the reality of the evidence and my lived experience as a victim,” Ventura wrote.

“I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and other individuals who spoke up about his abuse, at court,” she wrote.

“If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that those affected will never be secure,” she continued. “I hope that your ruling considers the facts at hand that the jury overlooked.”

What Happens After Sentencing?

After sentencing, Combs’s attorneys could appeal against the decision. Combs’s team is also likely to appeal his verdict.

Additionally, Combs is confronting dozens of civil lawsuits alleging of sexual assault and further offenses. He has denied every claim in those suits.