Legal Expert Reacts to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ 4-Year Sentence

Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison this week, and with credit for time served, the rapper is looking at 36 months — or 3 years for the two prostitution-related charges he was convicted of in July. 

“It was a split the baby sentence,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani tells PEOPLE. “It was heavier than I expected for a simple prostitution case. But when you brought in all the evidence of the violence, the force, the coercion, the threats, the drugs, I’m not surprised.”

“It certainly wasn’t the 11 years the government was asking for,” he says. Nor was it the 14 months sought by the defense.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian told Combs that the sentence was necessary “to send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.”

Combs, 55, was found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking following a high-profile eight-week federal trial.

Rahmani says when Subramanian said he would consider “acquitted conduct,” that was “the first sign that things would go bad for Diddy.”

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors wrote that Combs was “unrepentant” and that his “history and characteristics demonstrate years of abuse and violence.”

Earlier in the sentencing proceedings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik told the judge that Diddy had already booked speaking engagements as early as next week, anticipating a possible release from prison.

Slavik called the booked speaking engagements “the height of hubris,” she said.

Rahmani says the engagements were “presumptuous and a bad look for Diddy.”

“The defense argued that Diddy experienced trauma, was almost shanked in prison, and was so broke no one would change places with him,” says Rahmani. “Again, these arguments defied all credibility, especially when Diddy had five different high priced lawyers arguing on his behalf at sentencing. If you lose credibility with the court, it’s over, and that’s what happened today.”

During the sentencing, Combs’ defense attorneys played a 12-minute-long video that showed him giving motivational talks to children and participating in a marathon to raise funds for education.

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Rahmani says the video was “too little, too late.”