Diddy awaits sentencing as lawyers argue he’s no longer ‘bad boy’

Music mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs, once seen as a hip-hop fairytale, is awaiting sentencing after a trial that laid bare troubling details of his private life.

Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges. But he was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

He remains in custody. Sentencing is scheduled for July 8.

Each count carries a maximum of 10 years, though legal analysts predict far less. He also faces several civil lawsuits, which he denies.

After bail was denied on Wednesday, his lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, made one final push, admitting he didn’t see “a glimmer of light coming from the Court” on the matter.

The judge cited “violence and illegal conduct” as reasons for denying bail, referencing a June 2024 incident involving a former girlfriend known in court as Jane.

Agnifilo pointed out that Combs had attempted to enroll in “a batterer’s program,” adding, “He has these flaws in his personality, which are significant, and which have held him back, which have brought him into this courtroom. He is a man who’s in the process of working on himself.”

During closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Maureen Comey clarified that when she mentioned “enterprise,” she wasn’t talking about Combs Enterprises but the alleged criminal operation for which Combs was ultimately acquitted.

In 2001, Combs released “Bad Boy for Life,” rapping, “Don’t think, ’cause I’m iced out, Imma cool off.”

It was more than a song; it was branding. Bad Boy was also the name of the record label he founded in 1993.

In a 1997 Rolling Stone interview, Combs said, “Bad Boy was kind of modeled after [record label] Death Row because Death Row had become a movement.”

Prosecutors argued that Combs’ “bad boy” identity became a culture of excess and abuse.

After the verdict, Comey described him as “an extremely violent man with an extraordinarily dangerous temper who has shown no remorse and no regret for his multiple victims.”

When the split verdict was read, Combs fell to his knees and appeared to pray.

His attorney later said, “He came here, he faced the court, he’s been decent with the court each and every day, and he just deserves the chance.”

Before the federal trial, singer Cassie Ventura filed a civil suit accusing Combs of abuse.

He denied it, and the case was settled within a day.

In 2024, CNN aired surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs physically assaulting Ventura. He later posted an apology video.

In a 2015 interview on “The Breakfast Club,” Combs said, “If I’m in a relationship with you, like 25 percent of your time you’re gon’ feel like, ‘Oh man, I hate being here, oh man I hate this guy. Oh man, he cheated on me, he lied on me!’” He continued, “But then there’s 75 percent of, ‘Imma make you the happiest woman in the whole wide world.’ I’m going to be there to support your dreams… to hold you, listen to you… be your best friend.

You know who I am, this is what it is: 25 percent, 75 percent, which deal would you choose?”

In 2009, on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Combs was asked why he lent his Miami home to Chris Brown and Rihanna after Brown was accused of assaulting her.

He responded, “I’m the type of person who doesn’t cast judgment on somebody. If friends ask me for a favor, then I’m gonna be there for a favor.

As long as I know the energy of the favor is positive.”

He added, “It’s not right for anybody to hit anybody at the end of the day.

People who’ve been in relationships, we know sometimes these relationships get ugly and sometimes it doesn’t come out into the forefront the way this one has come out.”

In a 2012 interview on Fuse’s “On the Record,” Combs discussed his “love movement,” offering men self-care advice like moisturizing and staying groomed.

At trial, prosecutors highlighted his use of baby oil in what were described as “Freak Offs”—group sex events at hotels. The term “love movement” took on a darker context.

In 2021, Combs legally changed his middle name to “Love.” He later named his youngest daughter Love, born in 2022.

After the death of Kim Porter, mother of four of his children, Combs told Essence, “Whenever I was around her, I felt as though God had his hand in it. Nobody could love me the way she loved me, especially as crazy as I acted. I mean, she loved me through some real s**t.”

At the 2022 BET Awards, he said, “Anything I do is through God. Anything I do is through love. That’s what I evolve to be. And that’s what I’m doing right now.” He also thanked Ventura, saying, “Cassie, thank you for holding me down in the dark times. Love.”

Journalist Dream Hampton, who has interviewed Combs before, said after the verdict, “I’m afraid with Puff walking from the most serious charges that he’s—not only him, the whole entire discourse—I just wonder what we’re going to learn from this.”

Whether Sean Combs, a man of many names and contradictions, can truly change remains uncertain.His once-hyped slogan—“Bad Boy for Life”—might be his most haunting legacy.

(CNN)

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