Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs will be sentenced on October 3.
The disgraced rap mogul’s trial in New York ended last week when he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering, but convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and it has now been confirmed he will find out his fate in less than three months time.
Diddy’s lawyers formally proposed the date in a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, noting both prosecutors and probation officers had agreed to the schedule, People magazine reports.
The defence team’s sentencing memorandum must be submitted on September 19, with the government’s to follow a week later, with the judge signing off on the timeline on Tuesday.
Lawyers for both sides took place in a brief telephone conference on Tuesday afternoon, without the judge or Diddy present.
The I’ll Be Missing You hitmaker returned to Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn at the end of his trial, with the judge noting that prosecutors were right to point out that a Mann Act violation means detention is “mandatory”.
Judge Subramanian said that “for present purposes, the defendant is unable to meet his burden” to show “lack of danger to any person or the community” with clear and convincing evidence.
He added: “Prior to the trial, the court denied bail, and sees no reason to reverse that now.”
And when he returned to jail, Combs’ lawyer claimed he was greeted with a standing ovation from fellow inmates, who saw the verdict as a sign of hope.
His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told People magazine: “They all said, ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government.’ “
The attorney – who speaks to the 56-year-old rapper four or five times a day – thinks Diddy’s arrest and subsequent time behind bars has changed him.
He said: “He’s doing okay.
“[He] realises he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on.
“He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there’s no amount of fame and no amount of fortune that can erase them. You can’t cover them up.”
Combs was convicted of flying people around the country to engage in sexual encounters and could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The original 1919 law prohibited interstate or foreign commerce transport of a woman or girl “or prostitution, debauchery or for any other immoral purpose”.
In 1986, the law was made gender-neutral, and the wording altered to change “debauchery” and “immoral purpose” to “any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense”.
Bang Showbiz
