{"id":574299,"date":"2026-04-09T17:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574299\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T17:47:09","slug":"sean-diddy-combss-lawyers-appear-in-federal-court-to-appeal-his-conviction-years-long-prison-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/574299\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s lawyers appear in federal court to appeal his conviction, years-long prison sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, who has been serving a 50-month prison sentence for prostitution-related charges handed down last October<\/a>, are appearing before a federal court in New York City on Thursday to appeal his conviction. Combs\u2019s attorneys are requesting his immediate release from prison, claiming that the judge imposed an overly harsh sentence.<\/p>\n

The music mogul is not<\/a> in attendance at the hearing and has been serving his prison sentence at the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution, a low-security facility in New Jersey. Combs\u2019s release date has fluctuated in recent months. It was recently moved from April 25 to April 15, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website<\/a>. He was originally scheduled for release in June, then May, of that year.<\/p>\n

At the high-profile trial of the music mogul last summer, federal prosecutors accused Combs of leading a criminal enterprise that \u201cabused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” according to the indictment<\/a>. Combs pleaded not guilty and denied all of the allegations against him.<\/p>\n

Last July, a jury found Combs guilty<\/a> on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution related to his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and a victim who testified under the pseudonym \u201cJane.\u201d The jury also acquitted Combs of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking that could have seen him sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

\""Sean<\/p>\n

“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs says sorry to his family during his sentencing hearing after being convicted of transporting prostitutes for drug-fueled sexual performances in New York City in October 2025.<\/p>\n

(Jane Rosenberg\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

Combs faced a maximum of 20 years in prison for the two prostitution-related charges. Federal prosecutors asked for a sentence of more than 11 years in prison and to impose the maximum fine of $500,000. The defense sought a sentence of no more than 14 months in prison.<\/p>\n

Last October, in a Manhattan federal court, Judge Arun Subramanian ultimately handed down a sentence of 50 months \u2014 four years and two months \u2014 in prison. Subramanian also imposed a $500,000 fine and ordered five years of supervised release upon Combs’s release from prison.<\/p>\n

The judge told the court at the time that a substantial sentence was needed \u201cto send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subramanian said at the sentencing that he \u201crejects the defense\u2019s attempt to characterize what happened here as merely intimate, consensual experiences, or just a sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge told Combs directly, \u201cYou abused the power and control that you had over the lives of women you professed to love dearly. You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically. And you used that abuse to get your way, especially when it came to \u2018freak offs\u2019 and hotel nights.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their appeal, Combs’s lawyers argue that Subramanian unjustly allowed evidence from the acquitted charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking to influence the punishment. Atlanta-based attorney Nicole Westmoreland, who was one of Combs\u2019s trial attorneys, joined his appellate legal team just days before the April 9 hearing.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s oral arguments began at 10 a.m. ET before a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan. The court could either uphold Combs\u2019s conviction, order a new sentencing hearing or completely overturn the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers for Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, who has been serving a 50-month prison sentence for prostitution-related charges handed down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[39423,88,10997,114826,252641,91227,3990],"class_list":{"0":"post-574299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-arun-subramanian","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-federal-court","11":"tag-federal-prosecutors","12":"tag-fort-dix-federal-correctional-institution","13":"tag-prison-sentence","14":"tag-sean-diddy-combs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}