The allegations in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal indictment are astonishing and appalling. But of course, we need to look no further than the former president to see that with enough money and influence, the wealthy can nearly always escape accountability.
However, an attorney and former prosecutor on TikTok says that the federal case against Combs is so sprawling that avoiding imprisonment and leveraging options like fines, settlements, or plea deals is essentially impossible.
Attorney Robert Sparks says a Diddy prison sentence is almost certainly inescapable.
Sean “Diddy” Combs — also known as P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love — was federally indicted this week on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The allegations against him are horrifying. To merely scratch the surface, the indictment accuses him of, over a period of 16 years, drugging victims at infamous parties known as “Freak Offs,” where sexual conduct with both male and female victims would go on at such length that the rap mogul instructed his staff to always include IV fluids in the supplies for the parties to ensure victims did not die.
The indictment also mirrors accusations brought against Combs in multiple civil suits, most notably by Casandra Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend, a recording artist once signed to his Bad Boy record label and the subject of a now infamous video in which Combs brutally beat her in a hotel hallway. That case, in which Ventura accused Combs of rape and physical abuse, was settled for $30 million in 2023.
Given Combs’ astonishing wealth — the rap mogul is said to still be worth close to $400 million even amid his lengthy legal troubles — and the way wealth and power tend to interact with the justice system, allowing defendants to evade prison, it’s easy to assume that Ventura’s case will set a precedent for Combs’ federal charges.
But after reviewing the Department of Justice’s indictment, handed down on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, attorney and former prosecutor Robert Sparks says that’s extremely unlikely — if not impossible.
Sparks says that the nature of how federal cases are assembled and the inclusion of racketeering charges in Combs’ indictment likely mean he has no way out.
“This case is gonna go the same way as R. Kelly,” Sparks said in his video on the matter. “What I mean by that is… there will be no plea [deal]. Sean Combs is going to prison and it’s just a matter of how long.”
He stressed that Diddy, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, is, like any defendant, innocent until proven guilty. But the way the U.S. District Attorney’s office and federal prosecutors have “built their case” means prison is likely inescapable for Combs.
Federal cases operate differently than typical state-level criminal cases. As Sparks explained, in the latter, local law enforcement brings charges to a prosecutor, who then proceeds to gather the relevant evidence and testimony to make a case for guilt on the part of the defendant on trial.
But in federal Grand Jury cases, that footwork has already been completed — meaning that Combs’ federal indictment comes on the basis of evidence, including video footage, phone calls, and physical evidence seized during raids of his properties.
As Sparks put it, “When you’re talking about a U.S. Attorney… when they charge you, day one, they’re going into court and saying ‘we’re ready to go.'”
Sparks further explained that the inclusion of a “racketeering conspiracy charge” is particularly damning — it means the Grand Jury not only found compelling evidence of sexual misconduct but a sprawling “criminal enterprise” that underpinned it.
And the activities of that “enterprise” are truly head-spinning. Reading from the indictment, Sparks highlighted that the “members and associates” of this alleged enterprise “engaged in and attempted to engage in sex-trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Sparks also says the diverse range of witnesses named in the indictment means ‘even Puff Daddy doesn’t have enough money to make this go away.’
Sparks did not entirely eliminate the possibility of a plea deal, but he did say he believes that the acceptance of any plea deal that may arise will be “conditioned upon Sean Combs going to prison.”
This is because, in addition to the compelling evidence and sprawling nature of the charges, the list of witnesses assembled in the indictment is likely too numerous and diverse to provide any pathway out of accountability. In short, Combs is backed into a corner.
“They have hotel workers, people from his businesses, friends, associates, sex traffickers… security staff, household staff [who] go into illicit detail of what he orchestrated,” Sparks explained. “They don’t [ask for a plea deal] with this type of specificity.”
“Don’t get it twisted: Even Puff Daddy doesn’t have enough money to make this go away,” Sparks went on to say, noting that the U.S. Attorney’s office is “the biggest, strongest and the wealthiest law firm in the world” that is “not gonna accept a plea or a fine.”
Sparks also noted that the NDAs signed by Combs’ associates, which were honored in Combs’ civil cases like the one brought by Ventura, are not relevant to this federal case, and those who signed those agreements will likely still be called as witnesses.
“At the end of the day, I think this indictment is too specific; it goes for too long, and most importantly,” Sparks concluded, “they have too much evidence, too many witnesses for him to get out of this thing.” The bottom line? “One of the biggest icons in the hip hop world is gonna be doing prison time.”
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.
