In July, he was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution related to Cassie Ventura and another victim using the pseudonym “Jane.” Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said Combs has shown no remorse, and that his sentence “should reflect the substantial psychological, emotional, and physical damage he has inflicted” on his victims. They have requested that Combs receive a sentence of 135 months (11.25 years) and be given the maximum fine of $500,000.
Combs’ lawyers have requested that he receive a sentence of no more than 14 months. Due to the time he has already served since his arrest last September, he could be released by the end of this year. The probation officer recommended a sentence of five years.
Combs’ team filed a motion requesting that the judge either overturn the two convictions or grant him a new trial (they claimed that the prosecutors had not proven Combs violated the Mann Act). The judge denied both motions on Tuesday.
Cassie Ventura submitted a victim impact letter (see below for full letter) to the court describing her time with Combs as a “horrific decade of my life stained by abuse, violence, forced sex and degradation.” She said she still has nightmares and flashbacks of the abuse. Her letter also said: “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
Six of Combs’ seven children submitted letters to the court asking for leniency (all are now legal adults except for the youngest who is two years old). 31 year old Justin said: “My dad is not perfect. I know he has made mistakes, and I do not deny that. But I refuse to let those mistakes erase the truth of who he is: a loving, present father who has instilled in me and my siblings the importance of respect, of honoring women, and of standing tall in the face of adversity. He is the anchor of our family, the one we look to for guidance and reassurance.” 27 year old Christian’s letter said: “Please let him out! This is driving me crazy and my family crazy! I’m asking for grace and compassion to the family. Please let my dad out of jail!”
Ahead of sentencing, Combs’ team submitted an 11-minute video featuring Combs and his family over the years. The documentary-style video is a montage of home movies and news clips showing Combs taking care of his children as well as his charitable work and involvement in various community programs. It even includes footage of him running the New York City Marathon in 2003, for which he raised $2 million for NYC children’s charities.
His former assistant who testified using the pseudonym Mia (also known as Victim 4 during the trial) was expected to read a victim impact statement in court on Friday morning, but she changed her mind at the last minute, citing the defense bullying her. During the trial, she testified that he physically and sexually assaulted her multiple times, she witnessed him abusing Cassie, and that she had to clean up hotel rooms after freak offs with sex workers.
[full text of Combs letter to the judge]
Dear Judge Subramanian:
I hope this letter finds you well and in good health and spirits. Thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts to you. First and foremost, I want to apologize and say how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused others by my conduct. I take full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs. This has been the hardest 2 years of my life, and I have 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. 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.
Over the past thirteen months, I have had to look in the mirror like never before. My pain became my teacher. My sadness was my motivator. I have to admit, my downfall was rooted in my selfishness. The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily. 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. My domestic violence will always be a heavy burden that I will have to forever carry. The remorse, the sorrow, the regret, the disappointment, the shame. I honestly feel sorry for something that I couldn’t forgive someone else for: if they put their hands on one of my daughters. This is why it is so hard for me to forgive myself. It is like a deep wound that leaves an ugly scar.
Your honor, I thought I was providing for Jane concerning her and her child, but after hearing her testimony, I realized that I hurt her. For this I am deeply sorry.
I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core. Jail is designed to break you mentally, physically and spiritually. 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.
Every day since my incarceration, as difficult as my circumstances currently are, I have made the best of my time by reading books, writing, working out, or in therapy obtaining the tools and knowledge to deal with my past drug abuse and anger issues. I have been putting in the work and working diligently to become the best version of myself to ensure that I never make the same mistakes again.
I realize that I am in a situation where no amount of money, power or fame can save me. Only God can save me. My grandmother used to teach me that God makes no mistakes and that everything He does is for your good. I believe that a bad situation can be used for good. Although this situation has been the hardest and darkest time in my life, good things have come out of my incarceration. For starters, I am now sober for the first time in 25 years. I have been trying my best to deal with my drug abuse and anger issues and take accountability as well as positive steps towards healing. One of the most beautiful things I have experienced is being asked by my fellow inmates to teach and mentor them. They wanted to learn what I did to become a successful business man. I was inspired by their hunger and desire to learn information in order to not only set goals but achieve any goal/dream that their hearts desire. I started teaching a 6 week program called Free Game (title given by my fellow inmates), which I was able to have approved and sanctioned by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). I don’t just teach about my success, I also teach about my mistakes and failures. It has truly been a blessing to do something positive in a negative situation. It has been beautiful to see the newfound hope in my fellow inmates’ eyes. The most shocking thing was to see the unity and the peace this class has produced. As you are probably aware, jails and prisons are segregated places. However, in our class, we have Black, Spanish, White and Asian all together in one room learning and working together. We even have an interpreter for the Spanish speaking inmates. The
biggest miracle that I’ve seen with this class is all of the gangs such as Bloods, Crips, MS-13s, Trinitarios and 18th Streets, in one room working together. I am also proud to say that since this class started, there have been no fights in our unit. This class has also helped me in my time of need and despair. Being able to do something good for others has also given me much needed hope. God blessed me with this opportunity to help others and I will continue to do so.
I ask you for mercy today, not only for my sake, but for the sake of my children. God blessed me with 7 beautiful children—3 sons and 4 daughters. Their names are Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, Jessie, D’lia and the newest addition, a 2 year old daughter, Love. Four of my children lost their mother, Kim Porter, as she tragically passed away in 2018. I am their only parent. I have failed my children as a father. My father was murdered when I was 3 years old so I know first-hand what it is to not have a father. More than anything, I just want the opportunity to return home and be the father that they need and deserve. God also blessed me with the greatest mother in the world. My mother sacrificed her life and dreams to provide for me and my younger sister, Keisha. She worked 3 jobs to make sure we had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and the best education. My mother is now 84 years old and she recently had brain surgery. Despite her own health challenges, she attended my trial every day. I have always been her primary caregiver. It breaks my heart that I put myself in this situation and for the first time, I am unable to be there for my mother when she needs me most. As I write you this letter, I am scared to death. Scared to spend another second away from my mother and my children. I no longer care about the money or the fame. There is nothing more important to me than my family.
I understand that one factor the Court has to consider is deterrence. Deterrence for me and for others to ensure that no one follows in my footsteps and makes the same mistakes.
For over a year, I have been locked in one room with twenty-five other incarcerated people, sharing the same one room. In this room that I share, there are no windows, there is no natural/clean air, there is no sunlight and we all live in one room. We eat, sleep, use the toilet, take showers, and prepare meals all in the same room. The conditions that my actions have placed me in are inhumane. I don’t tell you this for pity or sympathy. I’m
simply sharing my truth and the truth of my fellow incarcerated people. We have no clean drinking water and we boil our drinking water. We all share one washing machine (which is broken). I am surrounded by drugs and live every day with the constant threat of being stabbed or losing my life. Again—I am not expecting pity or sympathy, but my time at MDC has changed me forever!
Prior to being in jail, I took care of and was present for my family. Being in jail, and because of my conduct, I lost the ability to care for my mother. I lost the ability to effectively raise and support my children. I have missed my three (3) daughter’s proms and graduations. I have missed taking one of my daughters to college. I have lost the freedom to teach my two year old how to speak, dance, play, or be there to console her when she
falls down or has a nightmare.
I started from nothing and worked hard to earn everything I had. But because of my conduct, I have lost all of my businesses. I have lost my career. I lost the charter schools that I started and I have destroyed my reputation and stained the reputation of those that worked for me. I lost my being present with my family. Between of all of my losses and lessons, I can state for a fact that I will never be in another criminal Courtroom again and I do not believe any other person would do anything similar from fear of similar punishment.
If you give me a chance, I would like the opportunity to share my story with people to prevent at least one person from making the mistakes that I’ve made.
I can’t change the past, but I can change the future. I know that God put me here to transform me. Since incarceration, I have gone through a spiritual reset. I’m on a journey that will take time and hard work. I’m proud to say I’m working harder than I ever have before. I’m committed to the journey of remaining a drug free, non-violent and peaceful person. I thank God that I’m stronger, wiser, clean, clear and sober. God makes no
mistakes. I realize that this trial has received a tremendous amount of global press and Your Honor may be inclined to make an example out of me. I would ask Your Honor 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.
Today, I humbly ask you for another chance—another chance to be a better father, another chance to be a better son, another chance to be a better leader in my community, and another chance to live a better life. I am writing this not to gain any sympathy or pity, this experience is simply the truth of my existence and has changed my life forever and I will never commit a crime again
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sean Combs
[full text of Cassie Venturas victim impact letter]
Dear Judge Subramanian,
I have been in a cycle of thought and then over thought writing this letter to you. If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe. Although I can hope for justice and accountability, I have come to not trust anything. I hope that your decision considers the truths at hand that the jury failed to see.
For four days in May, while nine months pregnant with my son, I testified in front of a packed courtroom about the most traumatic and horrifying chapter in my life. I testified that from age nineteen, Sean Combs used violence, threats, substances, and control over my career to trap me in over a decade of abuse. He groomed me into performing repeated sex acts with hired male sex workers during multi-day “freak offs,” which occurred nearly weekly. I was forced into lingerie and heels, told exactly how to look, and plied with drugs and alcohol so he could control me like a puppet. These events were degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses, and days of physical and emotional exhaustion before he demanded it all again. Sex acts became my
full-time job, used as the only way to stay in his good graces.
I testified that I learned to read Sean Combs’s signals, knowing that when he spoke of “freak-offs,” he was demanding them, and that refusing meant punishment—losing my car, my phone, or worse. He controlled every part of my livelihood and threatened to destroy my reputation by leaking sex tapes, a threat he repeated often. His power over me eroded my independence and sense of self until I felt I had no choice but to submit. When he believed I had wronged him or was not sufficiently responsive, he also threatened people around me and those close to me, including my family. I regularly worried that displeasing him meant putting my family and friends’ safety at risk.
I testified how beyond these threats, Sean Combs frequently used violence to get his way. Over the nearly eleven years we were together, Sean Combs would hit me, punch me, stomp on my face, pull my hair, and throw my body to the ground and against the wall. The jury saw pictures of bruises on my back from Combs kicking me and saw the deep gash over my eye he caused when he slammed me into a bed frame. The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016. People watched this
footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from the worst blows. This physical violence caused bruises that makeup artists (paid for by Sean Combs) would cover up, as well as permanent scars all over my body.
During my time with Combs, I was in a constant state of hypervigilance, as I was always anticipating demands for sex acts or otherwise fearing retribution for any perceived slight. My descent into substance abuse was directly correlated with his increased control over my body, my money, my freedom, and my free will. I used those drugs to push through the horrifying sex acts he demanded and to numb myself to the physical pain and emotional turmoil I was constantly in. While the defense attorneys at trial suggested that my time with Combs was akin to a “great modern love story,” nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing about this story is great, modern, or loving—this was a horrific decade of my life stained by abuse, violence, forced sex, and degradation.
I spent the last seven years of my life slowly rebuilding myself—physically getting clean from the drug abuse Sean Combs forced and encouraged, and mentally understanding how to live with a seemingly insurmountable level of trauma. The horrors I endured drove me to have thoughts of suicide—ones I almost followed through on, if not for my family’s intervention and urging that I seek professional care. I have been to rehab and have taken part in dozens of types of therapy modalities to confront, compartmentalize, and cope with the horrific memories of sexual and emotional abuse I endured for nearly ten years. While what he did to me is always present, I am slowly learning how to live my life free of the fear and horrors I endured, and in doing so am fully devoted to my husband and my children.
I still have nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday basis, and continue to require psychological care to cope with my past. My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality. I have in fact moved my family out of the New York area and am keeping as private and quiet as I possibly can because I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial. As much progress as I have made in recovering from his abuse, I remain very much afraid of what he is capable of and the malice he undoubtedly harbors towards me for
having the bravery to tell the truth.
His defense attorneys claim he is a changed man, and he wants to mentor abusers. I know firsthand what real mentorship means, and this disgusts me; he is not being truthful. I know that who he was to me—the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker—is who he is as a human. He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is. When I came out with my allegations in my civil case, he flatly denied them again and again. It was only after actual video footage corroborated the exact words in my civil complaint that he issued an insincere apology on the internet. Thanks to the footage and my testimony, this is also something he will forever be associated with.
For over a decade, Sean Combs made me feel powerless and unimportant, but my experience was real, horrific, and deserves to be considered. While the jury did not seem to understand or believe that I engaged in freak offs because of the force and coercion the defendant used against me, I know that is the truth, and his sentence should reflect the reality of the evidence and my lived experience as a victim. Reliving in detail the events and truths described throughout the trial and this letter causes me tremendous emotional pain. I am trying with all that I am, to move on. I hope that your sentencing decision 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.
I thank you for your time and attention.
Casandra Ventura Fine
[full text of letter from Cassies parents]
Dear Judge Subramanian,
We are writing to you as extremely concerned parents regarding the upcoming sentencing of the defendant referenced above. We have read many online reports that state that months are being suggested for his punishment/sentence, as opposed to the many years that we feel he deserves.
Eleven (11) years is the length of time this horrific nightmare lasted. During that time, our daughter was beaten repeatedly and exposed to harmful and copious amounts of drugs. She was held like a prisoner (kidnapping) by the defendant when her face told the story of a beating. She was coerced to perform sexual acts with strangers/prostitutes for the defendant’s own sexual gratification. None of the sexual acts were consensual as there is no consent in a domestic violence relationship. There was always the threat of violence. Everything she did with, for and because of this defendant was self-preservation. She was, in actual fact, brutalized by the
defendant’s power and depravity.
Our daughter is dealing with the psychological, emotional as well as the physical aftermath of the abuse she endured at the hands of the defendant. She will be left to deal with the trauma of his abuse far beyond a 27-month sentence (with time served), as suggested by the defense attorneys.
We believe the charges that the defendant was convicted of are not only federal crimes, but they are also severe violations of human self-worth and freedom. Clearly a vile abuse of power coupled with an immense disregard for human life. To sentence lightly in this case that involved such vicious abuses of our daughters’ body, safety and dignity is to dismiss her very existence. To sentence lightly would also send a dangerous message. A sentence that is handed down in months instead of years, sends a message that such repulsive behavior can happen without meaningful consequence.
In closing, we, her parents, urge you to deliver a sentence that appropriately reflects the severity and depravity of the abuse, the breach of trust, and the suffering that our daughter experienced. The justice system must be a place where the voices of those who have endured sexual and physical abuse are heard, believed and honored with appropriate accountability.
Thank you for your time and your consideration.
Sincerely,
Regina and Rodrick Ventura
(Casandra Ventura Fine’s parents) – Victim 1
Meanwhile, 50 Cent posted a fake letter to the judge
The sentencing is scheduled for 10AM EDT so feel free to discuss it here once the sentence is announced
