{"id":8034,"date":"2025-10-08T15:00:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-sentence-ai-lawsuits-lil-durk-case-more\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T07:37:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:37:59","slug":"diddy-sentence-ai-lawsuits-lil-durk-case-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-sentence-ai-lawsuits-lil-durk-case-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Diddy Sentence, AI Lawsuits, Lil Durk Case & More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tTHE BIG STORY<\/strong>: \u201cThis was subjugation.\u201d That\u2019s what Judge Arun Subramanian said to Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs last week as he sentenced him to over 4 years in prison for violating federal prostitution laws, capping off a whirlwind two years of accusations, investigations, civil lawsuits and a blockbuster criminal trial for the rap mogul.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat sentence can be seen as both a win and a loss for Diddy. It was certainly far less than the life sentence he could have gotten when he was charged last year with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking, accused of essentially running an organized crime syndicate aimed at sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThough the jury cleared Diddy on those charges, even his lesser prostitution convictions carried a 20 year maximum, with prosecutors demanding 11 years and probation officers suggesting that seven would be fair. In that light, four years looks a lot better \u2014 and he\u2019ll be out in three on time served.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut after a verdict that was largely seen as a victory for Diddy and a repudiation of the case prosecutors brought against him, the sentence was still a jarring reality check \u2013 that he was still convicted of capital-F felonies, and that a man who was once one of America\u2019s cultural icons is headed to federal prison for an extended stay.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the hearing, Combs\u2019 lawyers vowed to appeal both his convictions and his sentence. \u201cThe judge acted as a 13th juror, one we did not choose,\u201d said Diddy\u2019s lead attorney Marc Agnifilo in a sharp departure from his previous praise for Subramanian. And they telegraphed that part of their appellate attack could be centered on the trick issue of \u201cacquitted conduct\u201d \u2013 that the judge wrongly sentenced Combs based on ugly accusations that the jury had ultimately rejected.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople get \u2014 God forbid \u2014 falsely accused of a crime, they go to trial, they have all the witnesses testify, credibility is determined, the jury reaches a verdict, and finds in their favor \u2014 and then they get sentenced for the same exact conduct that the jury found that they did not commit,\u201d said Brian Steel, one of Diddy\u2019s attorneys. \u201cIt seems un-American.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead our full recap of the sentencing here, as well as our deep-dive into the issue of acquitted conduct. And stay with Billboard<\/em> \u2013 we\u2019ll keep you posted as Diddy\u2019s appeal makes its way through the courts.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re reading The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from <\/em>Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, go subscribe here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\tOther top stories this week\u2026\t<\/h3>\n

\n\tAI MUSIC LAWSUIT <\/strong>\u2013 Suno hit back at new claims from the labels that the AI music firm violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by \u201cstream-ripping\u201d songs from YouTube, a new battleground in the ongoing legal war over AI. In the response, Suno says it did no such thing \u2013 and that the labels know it, because they were heavily involved in creating the DMCA in the 1990s: \u201cThey are seeking to repudiate a legislative compromise that they themselves embraced to get the DMCA passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tROD WAVE SUED<\/strong> \u2013 Grizzly Touring, the promoter of Rod Wave\u2019s Last Lap<\/em> arena tour, filed a lawsuit against the R&B singer and rapper, claiming he held onto $27 million worth of advances despite refusing to finish the 35-date North American tour. The company says he completed 26 dates \u2014 earning only $30 million of his $57 million touring advance: \u201cArtist refuses to pay Grizzly a single penny of the more than $27 million he owes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tSCOTUS SAY NO<\/strong> \u2013 The U.S. Supreme Court said it had denied Live Nation\u2019s request to hear an antitrust class action against the concert giant, leaving in place a scathing ruling last year that called the company\u2019s arbitration agreements with ticket buyers \u201copaque and unfair.\u201d Live Nation had warned the justices that the ruling \u201ccreates massive uncertainty\u201d for the many companies that have long required consumers to sign such clauses.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2018IMPERMISSIBLY VAGUE\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 Attorneys for Lil Durk asked a federal judge to dismiss his murder-for-hire charges over allegations that he ordered an unsuccessful hit on rival Quando Rondo. With a trial looming in January, his lawyers say the Chicago drill star can\u2019t adequately prepare a defense when prosecutors have laid out only a vague theory: \u201cWhat sum of money is alleged to have been offered as bounty?\u201d Durk\u2019s lawyers asked. \u201cIn cash, via a wire transfer or a written check?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNIRVANA APPEAL<\/strong> \u2013 Spencer Elden, the man who appeared as a nude baby on the cover of Nirvana\u2019s 1991 album Nevermind<\/em>, launched an appeal following a ruling dismissing his child pornography lawsuit over the iconic album art. The case will be Elden\u2019s second trip up the appellate ladder to the Ninth Circuit, which has already revived his case once before. Nirvana\u2019s legal team doesn\u2019t sound concerned:\u00a0 \u201cWe will resist with vigor and will prevail,\u201d the band\u2019s lawyer told Billboard<\/em>.<\/p>\n


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THE BIG STORY: \u201cThis was subjugation.\u201d That\u2019s what Judge Arun Subramanian said to Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs last week as he sentenced him to over 4 years in prison […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294,296,3891,317,1916,4619],"class_list":["post-8034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-case","tag-diddy","tag-durk","tag-lawsuits","tag-lil","tag-sentence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8102,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8034\/revisions\/8102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}