Diddy is set to be sentenced on Friday, Oct. 3, following a split verdict earlier this year in his trafficking and racketeering trial. Ahead of the sentencing, a number of letters of support have been made public, with a new wave of such letters arriving Thursday.
Among them is a letter to New York judge Arun Subramanian from Virginia Huynh, a.k.a. “Victim 3” in the case. In the letter, dated Sept. 30 and viewed by Complex, Huynh asks the judge to consider “releasing [Diddy] back to his family.” Prosecutors, notably, have argued that Diddy should receive more than 11 years behind bars following his conviction in July on prostitution-related charges. The Bad Boy Records founder was found not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering.
“No one asked me or told me to write this letter but I felt my voice should be heard as I was identified as Victim 3 in this case, and I understand charges that were brought concerning me, including accusations of sex trafficking and prostitution,” Huynh wrote in her letter. “I cooperated fully with prosecutors. I met with them three times, answered their questions, and gave them all the information and evidence I had, including pictures, videos, and text messages from my phone. During those meetings, I felt pressured to feel like a victim. I told them I was not but they insisted that I was, even when I expressed my truth otherwise.”
In the letter, Huynh goes on to argue that she was “not trafficked,” despite prosecutors concluding otherwise. She also said she was “fully prepared to testify” in Diddy’s trial if called, saying that she would have made this same argument on the stand.
Others who contributed letters of support for Diddy in the latest filing include a “lifelong” friend of Diddy’s son Justin, a former Bad Boy Entertainment employee, the mother of an incarcerated individual who said Diddy has provided her son with “positive influence and guidance,” a fellow inmate, a celebrity hair stylist, and more.
Earlier this week, letters from Cassie and others were made public amid prosecutors’ push for a lengthier sentence. In her letter, Cassie asked the judge to consider the “many lives that Sean Combs has upended,” adding that he will “always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.” Cassie’s parents, Regina and Rodrick Ventura, also penned a letter to the judge.
Complex’s Shawn Setaro recently put together a deep-dive on what, exactly, may transpire at Diddy’s sentencing on Friday, Oct. 3. Included in the piece, available in full here, are comments from various legal experts. The general consensus is that the judge will most likely land somewhere in between what prosecutors and the defense have argued is suitable in this particular case.