Sean “Diddy” Combs, now 56, is fighting a four-year prison sentence from behind bars at a New Jersey federal facility, arguing that the judge punished him for crimes a jury said he didn’t commit.
On December 23, 2025, Alexandra Shapiro, his defense attorney, filed an 84-page appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, calling the 50-month term “illegal, unconstitutional, and a distortion of justice,” according to court documents reviewed by the BBC and The New York Times.
The Charges That Stuck
In July 2025, a Manhattan jury delivered a stunning split verdict after deliberating roughly 13 hours across three days, according to CNN trial coverage and alternate-juror accounts. Combs was convicted on two counts of transportation for prostitution under the century-old Mann Act, which criminalizes moving people across state lines for illegal sexual activity.
Yet jurors acquitted him of the three most serious charges—racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking—that prosecutors said could have carried life imprisonment.
What the Mann Act Convictions Mean
Federal prosecutors accused Combs of flying girlfriends and paid male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters he filmed, a felony violation of the Mann Act, FOX 5 New York reported.
Each Mann Act count carries a maximum 10-year sentence, though typical defendants in similar cases receive less than 15 months even when coercion is involved, Combs’ lawyers argued in their appeal.
Judge Subramanian’s Sentencing Rationale
At the October 3, 2025, sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian imposed 50 months in prison plus a $500,000 fine, CNN reported from the courtroom. The judge acknowledged Combs’ past contributions to his community and support from family, but emphasized that “a history of good works can’t erase your record,” the BBC noted.
Subramanian said a significant sentence was necessary to send a message that “abuse and violence against women is met with real accountability.”
The $50 Million Bond That Wasn’t Enough
Before trial, Combs offered a $50 million bail package backed by his $48 million Miami mansion, which he paid off by wiring $18 million to clear the mortgage in August 2024, according to court filings reviewed by Realtor.com.
His proposal included GPS monitoring, restricting travel to Miami and New York, and grounding his private jet in Los Angeles. Judge Subramanian rejected the package, ruling Combs had not shown by “clear and convincing evidence” that he posed no danger or flight risk.
Violence Evidence Tipped the Scales
The judge cited testimony from Combs’ anonymous former girlfriend “Jane,” who alleged he choked and dragged her in June 2024 while already under federal investigation, USA Today reported.
Prosecutors also highlighted hotel surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs kicking, dragging, and beating ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Los Angeles InterContinental hallway—video that has garnered millions of views since CNN released it in May 2024.
Judge Acted as ‘Thirteenth Juror’
Shapiro’s appeal argues that Judge Subramanian improperly “acted as a thirteenth juror” by relying on conduct tied to the acquitted racketeering and trafficking counts when calculating Combs’ sentence, according to court documents.
The defense contends the judge “defied the jury’s verdict” by finding Combs “coerced,” “exploited,” and “forced” his girlfriends into sex, allegations the jury rejected by acquitting him of sex trafficking.
2024 Federal Guideline Ban at Center of Fight
Combs’ legal team cites a November 2024 federal sentencing reform that prohibits judges from using “acquitted conduct” to increase prison terms, a change approved unanimously by the bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission in April 2024, according to commission documents and legal trade publications.
Commission Chair Judge Carlton W. Reeves stated at the time, “Not guilty means not guilty.”
What ‘Acquitted Conduct’ Sentencing Means
Before the 2024 reform, federal judges could consider charges a jury rejected when calculating sentences, relying on a lower “preponderance of evidence” standard rather than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” threshold required for conviction, Reuters explained.
Defense attorneys and lawmakers from both parties had long argued the practice was fundamentally unfair, frustrating the goals of justice.
Prosecutors Sought 11 Years, Defense Asked for 14 Months
Federal prosecutors filed a 164-page memorandum requesting at least 11 years and three months—135 months total—calling Combs “unrepentant” and citing decades of alleged abuse, Variety reported.
Combs’ lawyers countered with a request for just 14 months, arguing he had already been “sufficiently punished” by 13 months behind bars at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
Cassie Ventura’s Four Days of Testimony
Ventura testified for nearly 20 hours across four days in May 2025, telling jurors that Combs controlled her appearance, finances, and electronics, and forced her into hundreds of sexual encounters with male escorts during multi-day “freak-offs,” People magazine and CBS News reported.
She said the encounters “became a job,” sometimes lasting four days or more, leaving her dehydrated and recovering from drugs.
The $20 Million Settlement Revealed in Court
Ventura disclosed during testimony that Combs settled her November 2023 civil lawsuit for $20 million—the first public confirmation of the amount, USA Today and Billboard noted. She had initially offered Combs the rights to her unpublished book for $30 million before filing suit.
When asked if she would return the settlement to avoid the “freak-offs,” Ventura tearfully replied, “If I never had to have a freak-off, I would have agency and autonomy. I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.”
From RBG Clerk to Appellate Powerhouse
Leading Combs’ appeal is Alexandra Shapiro, who began her legal career over 30 years ago as one of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s first Supreme Court clerks, according to her firm biography and LinkedIn profile.
She co-founded the New York litigation boutique Shapiro Arato Bach in 2009 and has won multiple Supreme Court and Second Circuit reversals in white-collar criminal cases.
Life at Fort Dix Federal Prison
After sentencing, Combs was transferred from Brooklyn’s troubled Metropolitan Detention Center to the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, New Jersey—the largest single federal prison in the United States, housing over 4,100 male inmates, CNN reported.
TMZ noted Combs is assigned to laundry duty and resides in the facility’s Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Program unit rather than the general population.
May 2028 Release Date
Bureau of Prisons records initially projected Combs’ release for May 2028, but facility rule violations reportedly pushed the date to June 4, 2028, according to the Daily Mail, as cited by multiple outlets.
With maximum federal “good time” credits of up to 54 days per year served—roughly 15% off the total sentence—an inmate on a 50-month term could serve approximately 42 to 43 months, legal guides explain.
What the 2nd Circuit Could Do
Combs’ lawyers asked the appeals court, which has not yet scheduled oral arguments, to either acquit him outright, order his immediate release, or remand the case back to Judge Subramanian for resentencing with a reduced term, according to court filings.
If the panel adopts a strict interpretation of the no-acquitted-conduct rule, it could lead to rapid resentencings for other federal inmates sentenced under the old practice, legal observers note.
Typical Mann Act Sentences Run Far Shorter
Defense attorneys pointed to a review of over 60 Mann Act cases, showing that the average sentence was 14.9 months, and that defendants typically receive less than 15 months, even when coercion is proven, which the jury did not find in Combs’ case, Rolling Stone reported.
The appeal argues Combs received “the highest sentence ever imposed for any remotely similar defendant.”
The Trump Pardon Question—Now Answered
In early January 2026, President Donald Trump told The New York Times that he would not grant Combs’ pardon request, as reported by USA Today.
TMZ had previously noted Trump was “more than open” to pardoning Combs and had been waiting to see the outcome of the latest bail petition before making a decision.
Prosecutors Say Sentence Reflects Real Conduct
In their 164-page sentencing memo, prosecutors argued that while Combs will not be punished for acquitted crimes, the sentence must reflect “the nature and circumstances of the offense” for which he was convicted, according to Variety.
They emphasized Combs’s lack of remorse, noting he acknowledged violence during the trial but now “attempts to recast years of abuse as unhealthy but mutual relationships.”
A Test Case for Federal Sentencing Reform
Legal observers are closely watching the appeal as one of the first high-profile challenges to the 2024 acquitted-conduct ban, with defense filings portraying it as a major early test of whether judges will uphold the new rule, according to analysis from legal news services and academic commentators.
How the 2nd Circuit rules could shape sentencing practices for thousands of federal defendants nationwide, potentially redefining what “not guilty” truly protects.
Sources
BBC News, “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs files appeal asking for his immediate release,” December 24, 2025
New York Times, “Sean Combs’s Lawyers File Appeal, Arguing His Sentence Is Illegal,” December 23, 2025
CNN, “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentenced to over 4 years in prison,” October 3, 2025
U.S. Sentencing Commission, “2024 Acquitted Conduct Amendment In Brief”
Reuters, “US panel prohibits judges from sentencing for ‘acquitted conduct,'” April 17, 2024
People Magazine, “8 Shocking Bombshells from Cassie’s Testimony at Diddy Trial,” December 3, 2025