How Much Prison Time Could Sean Combs Serve After Prostitution Conviction?

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After an eight-week trial, Sean Combs was convicted of two federal felonies but acquitted of the three most serious charges leveled against him. The mixed verdict led many experts to declare a victory for the embattled mogul.

Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution related to the male escorts he hired to engage in drug-fueled sex acts with his ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, and a more recent ex-girlfriend who testified under the name “Jane.” Combs was cleared of racketeering conspiracy and the alleged sex trafficking of both Ventura and Jane.

Had he been convicted on all charges, or even some of the more serious ones, Combs could have faced up to life in prison. The guilty verdicts for the two prostitution charges could still land him in prison for some time, but Combs clearly avoided the worst-case scenario.

Each violation of the Mann Act carries up to 10 years in prison, meaning Combs technically faces a maximum of 20 years. But Combs has no prior criminal record, placing him in a much lower expected sentencing range, and U.S. District Judge Subramanian could allow him to serve concurrent sentences for the two counts.

In a letter to the court after the verdict, Combs’ defense calculated his expected sentencing guidelines range as 21 to 27 months. At a hearing Wednesday evening, Combs’ lead defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said the defense planned to make the case that Combs is “entitled” to “a below-guidelines sentence” considering he wasn’t a “pimp” making any money off the acts of prostitution.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, said the correct calculation for Combs’ sentencing range was at least 51 to 63 months imprisonment, meaning about four to five years. Federal judges aren’t required to follow sentencing guidelines and may treat them as a starting point while considering other factors, including any evidence at a trial that they consider credible. In the Southern District of New York, judges stuck to guideline ranges 34.5 percent of the time in the last fiscal year, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

“This is a huge win for Combs,” Alyse Adamson, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, tells Rolling Stone. “He has no criminal history. He’s not going to get 10 years for this. He may even get close to time-served.” On Wednesday, Subramanian suggested that Combs be sentenced on Oct. 3. By that time, if the judge continues to keep him locked up, he already will have spent more than a year behind bars.
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“Forget about the 10-year maximum sentence. You can throw that out the window. What matters are the federal sentencing guidelines,” Neama Rahmani, another former federal prosecutor, tells Rolling Stone. “I think he’s looking at as little as 15 to 21 months.” 

Though Combs hoped to be released on bond pending his sentencing, the judge denied the request at a hearing just after his conviction. Subramanian said Combs conceded during the trial that he committed “horrible” acts of domestic violence, so the music mogul failed to show he wasn’t a danger to the community.

Before making his decision, Subramanian cited both the now-infamous video of Combs beating Ventura at the InterContinental hotel in 2016 and evidence Combs was violent with Jane in June 2024.
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How Much Prison Time Could Sean Combs Serve After Prostitution Conviction?

“This type of violence, which happens behind closed doors in personal relationships, sparked by unpredictable bouts of anger, is impossible to police with conditions,” the judge said. He noted that even after the March 2024 searches of Combs’ homes, when he was “aware he was under investigation for sex trafficking,” he still battered Jane at her home. This was “at a time when he should have known that he needed to stay clean,” the judge said.

Speaking outside the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan Wednesday night, Agnifilo said the defense isn’t “done fighting” for Combs’ release. “We’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family,” the lawyer vowed.