Sean “Diddy” Combs, the music mogul currently serving a 50-month sentence, has been granted a significant legal victory that could lead to his release well before his scheduled date in 2028, per deadline.com.
In a rare move to accelerate the legal process, a federal appeals judge Monday approved the defense team’s request to expedite the appeal of Combs’ conviction. This decision, coming just days after the Grammy winner was moved to a lower-security prison in New Jersey, injects a new possibility into his efforts to shorten his time behind bars.
US Circuit Court Judge Beth Robinson signed the unopposed order on Monday, less than a week after Combs’ lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, made the fast-track request.
“It is hereby ordered that the motion is granted. Briefing shall proceed on the proposed schedule and argument shall be held as early as April of 2026, subject to the approval of the Presiding Judge,” the ruling stated.
Combs was handed a four-year sentence on October 3, which includes time served since his September 2024 arrest. He was found guilty by a New York City jury on July 2 of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. The 55-year-old was acquitted of the more severe sex trafficking and racketeering (RICO) counts. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered a maximum $500,000 fine and five years of supervised release.
Defense attorney Shapiro previously stated the appeal will challenge “the unfair use of the Mann Act,” the federal statute under which Combs was prosecuted, arguing that the appeal concerns its application to what she claims was “sex with consenting adults.”
