Lawyers for Sean 'Diddy' Combs are set to argue before a US appeals court on Thursday that the judge in his sex crimes trial erred in considering allegations of abuse and threats against former girlfriends while sentencing him to over four years in prison on prostitution-related charges.
Combs, 56, has moved the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit seeking to overturn both his conviction and the sentence, according to Reuters. He is currently lodged at a low-security federal prison in Fort Dix.
The seven-week trial in Manhattan federal court last year focused on drug-fuelled and prolonged sexual performances, sometimes referred to as “Freak Offs” involving two of Combs’ former girlfriends and male sex workers.
A jury found him guilty on July 2, 2025, on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
However, he was acquitted of more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering linked to allegations that he coerced the women — rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura and another identified as Jane — into participating in the encounters.
At the hearing, defence lawyer Alexandra Shapiro is expected to argue that the conviction should be set aside as Combs was accused of observing the acts but did not participate in them.
She is also likely to contend that US District Judge Arun Subramanian improperly relied on conduct tied to charges for which Combs was acquitted while sentencing him to 50 months in prison on October 3, 2025.
“It was unlawful, unconstitutional and a perversion of justice to sentence Combs as if the jury had found him guilty of sex trafficking and RICO,” Shapiro wrote in a court filing.
The defence has argued that the judge should not have factored in allegations that Combs threatened to release an explicit video of Ventura or cut off rent payments to Jane while determining the sentence.
Responding to the appeal, prosecutor Christy Slavik said the trial court was justified in considering evidence of abuse and threats, even in the absence of a conviction on sex trafficking charges, as it was relevant to the prostitution offences.
“According to Combs, the District Court should have closed its eyes to how he carried out his Mann Act offenses and abused his victims,” Slavik said in a filing, referring to the federal law on transportation for prostitution.
Combs has admitted to abusing his former girlfriends but has maintained that incidents he described as domestic violence were separate from the sexual performances, which he said were consensual.
According to Bureau of Prisons records, he is scheduled for release on April 15, 2028.