Overview
- The Second Circuit panel, which heard nearly two hours of argument Thursday, took the case under advisement without issuing a ruling.
- Defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro argued the trial judge inflated the 50‑month term by relying on conduct tied to sex‑trafficking and racketeering counts that a jury rejected.
- Prosecutors said the sentence rested on conduct proven at trial and on other permissible factors, and they noted the judge stated he would have imposed the same term regardless.
- Combs’s team also pressed a First Amendment claim that the recorded, staged sexual encounters were amateur pornography, while prosecutors said he hired and moved commercial sex workers for paid sex.
- Combs remains in federal custody with a projected April 2028 release, and the appeal could lead to release, a new sentencing, or an affirmance under the Mann Act, which bans transporting people across state lines for prostitution.