Sean "Diddy" Combs's sex trafficking case and abuse lawsuits

In May 2024, CNN published hotel surveillance video from 2016 showing Combs grabbing, shoving and dragging Ventura, and two days later he apologized in a video on Instagram.^[13][14] Howard University revoked his honorary degree,^[15] he returned his key to New York City at the mayor's request^[16] and he sold his majority stake in Revolt.^[17] The lawsuits kept coming: CNN counted 10 by September,^[18] and a Houston lawyer, Tony Buzbee, said more than 100 men and women planned to sue.^[19] One accuser who had also named Jay-Z acknowledged inconsistencies in her story and later withdrew her suit.^[20][21]

Combs was arrested in New York on September 16, 2024.^[22] Prosecutors accused him of running a criminal enterprise that included sex trafficking, forced labor and coercion to engage in prostitution,^[23] and a judge sent him to jail to await trial.^[24] Two more judges refused him bail, one citing evidence that he was a "serious risk" of witness tampering;^[25] prosecutors had said he tried to reach witnesses and sway public opinion from jail.^[26] Superseding indictments added victims and charges,^[27][28] and Combs pleaded not guilty.^[29]

His trial opened in May 2025, after he rejected a plea deal.^[30][31] Ventura testified for four days, describing beatings and rape and the drug-fueled, multi-day sex marathons he called "freak offs."^[32][33] A former assistant testified that he sexually assaulted her,^[34] another former aide said he kidnapped her in a rush to find the rapper Kid Cudi,^[35] and a woman using the pseudonym "Jane" said he pressured her into sex with other men.^[36] The jury heard from 34 witnesses.^[37] On July 2 it acquitted him of the most serious charges and convicted him of the prostitution-related counts, and Judge Arun Subramanian denied him bail.^[1][38]

Prosecutors sought more than 11 years in prison;^[39] the defense asked for no more than 14 months,^[40] and Combs wrote to the judge that he was "humbled and broken."^[41] On October 3, 2025, he was sentenced to more than four years, and his lawyers said they would appeal.^[42][5] He began serving his sentence at Fort Dix, a low-security prison in New Jersey.^[43] Trump confirmed that Combs had asked him for a pardon,^[44] though a White House official pushed back on a report that a commutation was imminent.^[45] In 2026 his lawyers argued before the federal appeals court,^[46] and reports said he had been placed in solitary confinement after a fight with another inmate and had been taken from the prison by ambulance with a head injury.^[47][48]