On eve of sentencing, Combs tells judge he has been 'reborn,' asks for
mercy
[October 03, 2025]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
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.”
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In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after he was
convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex
trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind
bars for life, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York.
(Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)
 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.
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