(MENAFN- Live Mint) Sean“Diddy” Combs' sentencing hearing began at 7:30 pm Indian time on Friday, with arguments currently underway in the Manhattan Federal court in the United States.

The case will be heard by Judge Arun Subramanian, after which the proceedings will determine how long the hip-hop mogul will serve in prison after his conviction under the federal Mann Act, which makes it a crime to transport people across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.

The prosecutors are pressing for over 11 years of imprisonment, while his defence team seeks his immediate release.

Sean Diddy Combs has arrived in the courtroom with his family seated to hear the sentencing. The sentencing would be pronounced any time soon.

What happened in the case so far?

Combs, 55, was accused of racketeering, two sex-trafficking counts and two counts of transportation for prostitution. Later on July 2, 2025, he was acquitted of the 'racketeering' charge, which could have given him a potential life sentence. He was also acquitted of two charges of trafficking.

However, he was convicted on two counts of transportation for prostitution, involving two victims - his ex-girlfriend and singer Cassie Ventura and an anonymous person known as“Jane”. He was charged with transporting the victims to places where they would participate in acts of prostitution, according to BBC.

Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura were in an on-and-off relationship for more than a decade.

The charge of transportation for prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and Combs was convicted on two counts. He had pleaded not guilty and denied all the allegations against him.

What did his lawyer appeal?

After Combs was convicted, his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, immediately appealed for his release from federal prison until his sentencing hearing, and suggested a $1 million bail.

However, his appeal was denied, forcing the hip-hop mogul to remain in jail until he is sentenced. On the eve of Combs' sentencing, he wrote a letter to the judge, requesting leniency so he could be around his seven children and elderly mother. "I lost my way...My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core,” he wrote in the letter.

Combs's accusers have also written to the judge to not let him walk free as he might seek revenge from them. They also described how he misused his influence and power as a public figure to ruin their lives, BBC reported.

"I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up," wrote one of the victims, Ventura.

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