The sentencing hearing for Sean “Diddy” Combs has begun in a Manhattan federal courtroom, where the music mogul faces years behind bars for transporting prostitutes across state lines for drug-fueled sex performances he dubbed “freak-offs.”

In a letter submitted to the court ahead of the hearing, Combs apologized to the court for his years of drug-fueled domestic violence involving his former girlfriends, saying he “lost his mind” in “drugs and excess.”

Sober for the first time in years, Combs, 55, told U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian in a letter delivered before sentencing that he was taking accountability for the domestic violence. His adult children told the judge he deserves a second chance and they saw changes in him that feel real and lasting.

During Friday’s hearing, Subramanian said he considers Ventura and another ex-girlfriend, Jane, victims and that “the defense’s explanation that the freak-offs were consensual was ‘flatly inconsistent with reality and acceptance of responsibility.’ ” He said Combs showed “no remorse” for violating the Mann Act by transporting male sex workers across state lines.

Combs’ sentencing comes a year after federal prosecutors unsealed a sweeping indictment that carried a potential life sentence and painted Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment as a mob-style operation designed to allow him to sex traffic women for his own desire. But in July, a jury cleared him of the most serious charges — racketeering and sex trafficking — following an eight-week federal criminal trial in New York.

Still, Subramanian is expected to consider the evidence of violence in sentencing Combs on the two counts of transportation for prostitution, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Federal prosecutors asked Subramanian to sentence Combs to 11 years and three months and a $500,000 fine. They argue the “relevant conduct” revealed at trial, where witnesses testified he beat his girlfriends and gave them illegal drugs, must be considered at sentencing. The prostitutes participated in drug-fueled sexual performances dubbed “freak-offs” with Combs’ then-girlfriends that Combs’ watched and that were sometimes filmed.

“This isn’t just a case about freak-offs or hotel nights,” federal prosecutor Christy Slavik told the judge “It’s a case with real victims who have suffered real harm at the hands of the defendant. It’s about a man who did horrible things to other people to satisfy his own sexual gratification.”

Slavik said Combs has already booked a speaking engagement next week in Miami as a sign of his hubris.

Combs’ ex-girlfriend and the trial’s most prominent witness, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, wrote in a letter to the judge that he should consider “the many lives that Sean Combs upended with his abuse and control ...”

“Sex acts became my full-time job,” Ventura wrote in one of seven letters attached to prosecutors’ sentencing request. “His power over me eroded my independence and sense of self until I felt no choice but to submit.”

In court Friday, Slavik recounted testimony from the trial and the lasting impact for those who testified. Ventura still has nightmares and flashbacks and scars on her body. Another ex-girlfriend, identified in court only as Jane, has lasting trauma, and Combs’ former assistant, Mia, who alleged she was sexually assaulted, suffers from PTSD, the prosecutor said. Slavik said Combs cast himself as a victim in a sentencing letter with talk of carrying the heavy burden of his domestic violence.

Combs’ lawyers are seeking 14 months as a sentence, citing numerous transportation cases for prostitution with lesser sentences.

Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’ attorneys, highlighted his importance as a role model for Black youth, citing his message that you don’t need to sign for a label; you can own it. She passionately spoke of how he had founded three charter schools and said warehousing in prison would be a waste.

In his own letter to the judge ahead of his sentencing Friday, Combs said he was taking “full responsibility and accountability” for his “past wrongs,” and apologized for the pain he’s caused others.

“I have to admit, my downfall was rooted in my selfishness. The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily. I literally lost my mind. I was dead wrong for putting my hands on the woman that I loved. I’m sorry for that and always will be,” Combs wrote. “I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core.”

Combs’ six adult children also addressed the judge Friday.

“He is transformed,’ said Quincy Brown, adding they wish to heal together as a family.

“I ask you to give my father a second chance ...” Justin Combs said.

His oldest daughter, Chance Combs, described her father as a changed man with a clear mind and sense of purpose that she didn’t always hear before.

“We are tired of being strong. We have already lost so much. We have lost our mother, we have lost time with our father, and every day he remains incarcerated, we lose more and more. Please, your honor, please,” said D’Lila Combs, crying. “Give our family the chance to heal together, to rebuild, to change, to move forward, not as a headline, but as human beings. We’re trying to do better.”

At Friday’s hearing, the defense then played an 11-minute video of Combs’ efforts to help others, particularly children, where he runs the New York Marathon, which contrasts with the widely seen video used in the trial of him beating Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel corridor.

The legal drama generated global attention and offered a graphic and often violent glimpse into the life of one of the nation’s most powerful music figures and his nearly billion-dollar enterprise.

Prosecutors portrayed Combs and his associates as luring female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Once he had gained their interest, prosecutors said Combs used force, threats of force, coercion and drugs to get them to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes while he occasionally watched.

On the stand, witnesses testified that Combs gave the women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to “keep them obedient and compliant” during the performances.

The government’s case relied heavily on three key witnesses: Combs’ onetime lover, Ventura, whose 2023 civil lawsuit began the unraveling of Combs’ empire; his most recent ex-girlfriend, who was identified only as Jane; and his former assistant, identified in court only as Mia.

Prosecutors charged Combs under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO, which requires that a defendant be part of an enterprise involved in at least two overt criminal acts out of 35 offenses listed by the government. Those offenses include murder, bribery and extortion. But RICO cases are challenging to prosecute by design, legal experts say.

At trial, Ventura testified she felt “trapped” in a cycle of physical and sexual abuse by Combs, and that the relationship involved years of beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape. She claimed Combs threatened to leak videos of her sexual encounters with male prostitutes while under the influence of drugs.

One such freak-off led to an infamous hotel beating that was captured on hotel security cameras. Video footage from that March 2016 night shows Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to protect herself in front of an L.A. hotel elevator bank. He then drags her down the hall by her hooded sweatshirt toward their hotel room.

A second angle from another camera captures Combs throwing a vase toward her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a swollen lip and a bruise that prosecutors showed was still visible during a movie premiere two days later, where she wore sunglasses and heavy makeup on the red carpet.

In the trial, prosecutors said Combs and members of his group worked to cover up the incident. Eddie Garcia, a former InterContinental Hotel security guard, testified that Combs gave him a brown paper bag containing $100,000 in cash for the video.

Combs’ defense team was aggressive in cross-examination, hammering witnesses about why they did not report the celebrity at the time or simply leave him.

His lawyers said the sexual encounters with his girlfriends were consensual, and Ventura was in a long-term relationship. The hotel incident was a disagreement over a cellphone and not part of a sexual encounter, they said.

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