Sean Combs, a rapper and file government who made headlines when he purchased a $21.1 million Kerry James Marshall portray in 2018, was sentenced in federal court docket on Friday to 50 months, or 4 years and a pair of months. He was additionally fined $500,000, the utmost quantity allowable by regulation.
The rapper, who additionally glided by the identify Diddy, was accused of racketeering, intercourse trafficking, and transportation for prostitution. He was acquitted of the racketeering and intercourse trafficking prices, however he was convicted on two counts of transportation for prostitution, each of which carried most sentences of as much as 10 years every.
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All through the trial, which started in Could, Combs maintained his innocence amid testimony from his ex-girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, who alleged years of bodily and sexual abuse. Combs was additionally accused of abuse and sexual assault by an nameless former worker.
The sentencing listening to lasted all day Friday, with prosecutors, Combs’s protection group, his six grownup youngsters, and Combs all testifying. Prosecutor Christy Slavik stated Combs is a “grasp puppeteer of his personal picture” and requested the choose not consider that Combs is a modified man, whereas Marc Agnifilo, who led Combs’s protection group, stated “this has simply been a devastating, damaging case for this man on the most important of levels,” in keeping with a report by the New York Occasions.
Throughout his 12-minute assertion, Combs referred to as his habits “disgusting, shameful and sick”; stated he had “no person responsible however myself”; and begged the choose for “mercy,” in keeping with the Occasions. He apologized to Ventura earlier than concluding his assertion by saying, “It doesn’t matter what anyone says, I do know that I’m really sorry for all of it.”
Forward of issuing the sentence, Choose Arun Subramanian, of United States District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, stated that “a historical past of excellent works can’t wash away the file on this case, which exhibits that you just abused the ability and management over the lives of girls who you professed to like,” in keeping with the Occasions.
Subramanian referred to as the prosecution’s request for greater than 11 years “not affordable” however stated the protection’s request for 14 months not sufficient to convey the seriousness of the offense, including that the fantastic was imposed due to Combs’s “immense monetary sources,” which the choose stated, “enabled his crimes,” per the Occasions. He ended his ruling by saying, “To Ms. Ventura and the opposite courageous survivors that got here ahead, I need to say first: We heard you.”
Combs has broadly been reported to be an artwork collector, although it’s not fully clear what works past the Marshall are in his holdings. That assortment will not be his for for much longer, nonetheless. Studies from earlier this yr talked about that the Division of Justice meant to grab his property if he have been to be discovered responsible of intercourse trafficking.
His buy of the Marshall portray at Sotheby’s in 2018 was perceived as a serious buy. Swizz Beatz, a file producer and artwork collector, instructed ARTnews that Combs had made the acquisition at his behest.
Combs’s buy of the portray, titled Previous Occasions (1997), set Marshall’s public sale file on the time and made him the most costly residing African American artist. The work is now included in Marshall’s Royal Academy of Arts retrospective in London, the place wall textual content notes that the portray is held in a personal assortment, with out specifying its proprietor.
The few remaining hints on the contents of Combs’s collections come through an Artnet Information report from 2024 that said that he owns a neon sculpture by Tracey Emin, in addition to works by the sculptor Brett Murray and the artistic studio Random Worldwide, which is finest recognized for its set up Rain Room.
