Diddy may be released from prison sooner
What's the story
Sean Combs, popularly known as Diddy, is now set to be released from prison 10 days earlier than previously scheduled. The music mogul has been serving a 50-month sentence for prostitution-related charges and will now be released on April 15, 2028. This change comes just weeks after another adjustment shortened his sentence by over a month. His release date was initially set for May 8, 2028, but was later pushed to June 4 before being moved up to April 25.
Appeal preparation
Legal team's oral argument on April 9
The latest update on Combs's release comes just days ahead of his legal team's oral argument at the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on April 9. Last December, his lawyers appealed his conviction and sentence, claiming that the sexual encounters in question were consensual and that the trial judge imposed an excessively harsh sentence.
Conviction details
Convicted last summer after high-profile federal trial in New York
The rapper was convicted last year after a high-profile trial. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York accused him of operating a criminal enterprise that abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. He was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have led to life imprisonment.
Sentencing details
'You abused the power and control that you had...'
At his sentencing, Judge Arun Subramanian rejected the defense's "attempt to characterize what happened here as merely intimate, consensual experiences, or just a sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll story." He told Combs, "You abused the power and control that you had over the lives of women you professed to love dearly." On October 3, 2025, Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison, fined $500K, and ordered five years of supervised release after leaving prison.
Defense strategy
Defense called his long sentence 'a perversion of justice'
Combs has been serving time at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey since then. His defense has been fighting hard, insisting everything was consensual and that prosecutors didn't prove their toughest claims. They argue the judge relied too much on findings that the women were coerced/forced, even though the jury didn't reach that conclusion. On March 13, Combs's lawyers called his long sentence "a perversion of justice" in their appeal, demanding immediate release/acquittal/at least a new sentencing hearing.