 "Prosecutors had sought 11 years behind bars for the 55-year-old Combs, but District Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a 50-month sentence and a $500,000 fine. (Image credit: AFP/Wikimedia commons)")
Indian-American district judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, 55, to four years and two months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters. The ruling came at the end of a day-long hearing in Manhattan federal court, where the judge criticised the hip-hop mogul for subjecting two former girlfriends to prolonged abuse.
Combs, who remained expressionless as the sentence was read, could serve less than three years in custody after being credited for the time already spent at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his September 16, 2024, arrest. He had faced a maximum sentence of 20 years following his July conviction on two counts of arranging for paid male escorts to cross state lines and engage in drug-fuelled sexual acts with his girlfriends, which he recorded while masturbating. The jury, however, cleared him of the more severe charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, which carried a potential life sentence.
Who is Judge Arun Subramanian?
Born in 1979 in Pittsburgh to Indian immigrant parents, Arun Subramanian made history in 2022 as the first South Asian to be appointed a federal judge, under then President Joe Biden. He earned a BA in computer science and English from Case Western Reserve University before completing his Juris Doctor at Columbia Law School, where he was recognised as a James Kent and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Subramanian began his legal career as a judicial clerk and went on to become a respected figure in the legal field. He has been a strong advocate for victims of child pornography trafficking, defended consumer rights, and represented individuals in cases of exploitation. During his tenure as a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP from 2007 to 2023, he helped recover over a billion dollars for public and private entities in fraud cases, cementing his reputation as a leading litigator in commercial and insolvency law.