Sean “Diddy” Combs Agrees to Forfeiture Following Sex Crimes Sentencing
It seems Sean “Diddy” Combs was living it up back in the day—1999, to be exact.
The music executive and self-described amateur porn director has agreed to forfeit various items as part of his sentencing for sex crimes, according to recent court documents.
As part of this agreement, the founder of Bad Boy Records will relinquish cassette tapes and a range of electronic devices, including hard drives, thumb drives, iPhones, iPads, and computers taken by federal agents during a raid on his home in March 2024.
Additionally, federal authorities intend to withhold $9,000 in cash that was discovered at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, where the 55-year-old stayed before his September 2024 arrest.
The legal paperwork, signed jointly by federal officials and Combs’ attorney, doesn’t detail what is on the “Ibiza tape.” However, it does state that all seized items were “property used or intended to be used” in relation to the prostitution charges he faced, which led to his conviction in July.
All items are set to be handed over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for secure custody.
The tapes, recorded on a Sony DVCAM camera from 1996, are reported to be part of a scheme involving the recruitment of male escorts for drug-fueled sexual encounters dubbed “freak-offs.”
During the two-month trial held in Manhattan federal court, witnesses testified that Combs occasionally filmed his girlfriends engaging in sexual acts with escorts while he observed.
Throughout his career as a traveling rapper and entrepreneur, Combs has frequently visited Ibiza, a well-known party destination. Notably, he performed on the island in 2010 alongside his then-girlfriend, R&B artist Cassandra “Cathy” Ventura.
Ventura was a significant witness in the trial, revealing that she and another woman feared that Combs might release intimate videos of them unless they complied with his demands for degrading sexual activities with his male bodyguards.
Despite this, the jury acquitted Combs of coercing Ventura into sexual acts, as his lawyer maintained that the interactions stemmed from a mutual agreement in a troubling relationship.
Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a sentence of nearly four years on Friday, which was notably less than the 11 years prosecutors requested. This decision was based on a six- to seven-year guideline that the judge himself calculated.
However, he denied Combs’ request for immediate release, emphasizing that a substantial sentence was needed to protect the public from future offenses.
In a bid to dismiss the case, Combs labeled himself an “amateur” porn director, claiming his First Amendment rights allowed him to film the crooked encounters, though this argument did not hold up in court.
He is expected to appeal the ruling in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
