Convicted rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has written a letter to the judge overseeing his criminal trial, asking for leniency during his sentencing on Friday and blaming his past behaviour on drug addiction.
In the four-page letter, he apologises “for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused” and says that he has been reformed after spending 13 months in a Brooklyn jail.
The letter on Thursday comes hours ahead of his sentencing hearing at 10:00 ET (15:00GMT) on Friday.
In July, he was found guilty of two prostitution charges and now faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least 11 years, but Combs’ lawyers are asking that he be released later this month.
In his letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, Combs apologises for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, singer Casandra Ventura, writing: “I literally lost my mind”.
“I’m sorry for that and always will be,” he continues. “My domestic violence will always be heavy burden that will have to forever carry.”
He also apologies to an anonymous woman who testified during the trial under the name “Jane” and says he became “lost in the drugs and the excess”.
“I lost my way,” he wrote. “My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core.”
Comb’s accusers have also written to the judge, describing how he wielded his power and influence to ruin their lives, and their fears that he would seek revenge if freed.
“I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up,” wrote Ms Ventura.
She added that she believes he deserves a long sentence, writing: “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
In his letter, Combs describes teaching a class to fellow inmates on “what I did to become a successful business man”, describing himself as a changed person who is now sober for the first time in 25 years.
“The old me died in jail and new version of me was reborn,” he writes.
Comb goes on to ask the judge for mercy, “not only for my sake, but for the sake of my children”. He asked the judge to consider his seven kids, and his 84-year-old mother who recently had brain surgery.
He notes that the judge might be tempted to make an example out of him and instead asks that he be made an example of “what a person can do if afforded a second chance”.
Combs is also expected to speak in court on Friday before the judge issues his sentence. Four of his lawyers are also slated to speak, and his defence team also plans to show a 15-minute video. It’s unclear what the video may include.
In July, a jury acquitted him of the most severe charges: racketeering and sex trafficking – which could have resulted in him spending the rest of his life behind bars. He was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutors say he is “unrepentant” and argued the rapper should spend a minimum of 11 years in prison.
“The defendant tries to recast decades of abuse as simply the function of mutually toxic relationships,” prosecutors wrote in a 29 September filing. “But there is nothing mutual about a relationship where one person holds all the power and the other ends up bloodied and bruised.”
