Judge Grants Sean “Diddy” Combs Fast Appeals Schedule That Could Wrap in Spring

Days after he was transferred to a federal prison in New Jersey to complete his 50-month sentence, Sean “Diddy” Combs has scored another legal win when a judge granted him a speedy appeal, essentially handing his team of lawyers everything that they’d asked of the court.

In a brief note on Monday, U.S. Circuit Court Judge Beth Robinson approved the request from Combs’ legal team, who hope to save their client from prison time after the surprise sentence handed down by the federal judge who oversaw the fallen rap mogul’s sex trafficking and racketeering trial, which ran for eight weeks and ended with a split verdict that saw Combs found guilty by jury of transportation for prostitution, a violation of the Mann Act. He was spared a possible life sentence when found not guilty of the more serious charges. 

The prospective appeals schedule timeline proposed by the judge has Combs’ brief due by Dec. 23 and the U.S. government’s brief scheduled to be delivered by Feb. 20; Combs’ legal team’s reply is due by March 13. According to Judge Robinson, oral arguments would take place in early April if the schedule remains on track. 

“Sean’s appeal will challenge the unfair use of the Mann Act, an infamous statute with a sordid history, to prosecute him for sex with consenting adults,” defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro said in a statement released last week. During the sentencing phase of Combs’ trial, his attorneys sought a narrow definition of prostitution and argued that, as he did not profit at all from the sex that he was accused of coercing between male prostitutes and two of his girlfriends, there was no trafficking that took place. 

During sentencing, attorneys for Combs sought time served of 14 months for their client — time which Combs served at the Metropolitan Correction Center, a notorious lockup in Brooklyn — while he was awaiting trial. The prosecution asked the judge to sentence Combs to no less than 11 years and three months.

FCI Ft. Dix, where Combs is now serving his sentence, is a low-security federal penitentiary in New Hanover Township in New Jersey. Because of its proximity to his family home and a rehab program that could see him housed outside of the general population, it was the ex-mogul’s top choice. It houses roughly 4,000 inmates. This week, Combs was spotted on camera chatting and laughing with the other inmates housed at the facility, according to TMZ.

The rapper is currently scheduled to be released on May 8, 2028 but he may be eligible for early release for good behavior as part of the Bureau of Prisons’ First Step program.