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Fame Under Fire
What will Diddy’s life be like after prison?
00:16:49
All you need to know about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ future on probation
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- [00:01]
A
Hello and welcome to Fame Under Fire with me, Anushka Matandadawati. I'm joined by our resident trial attorney, Sean Kent. Hi, Sean.
- [00:07]
B
Hey, Anushka, how are you doing?
- [00:09]
A
I'm doing good. If you're listening to this on the podcast and not watching it on YouTube, you can't see that this man is in a velvet. Is it pink with brown velvet on it?
- [00:19]
B
It's more like a red and like a maroon and light and blue and paint. Yeah, it's got a little bit of everything going on.
- [00:26]
A
There's a pink tie, there's a pink pocket square. Square. This is. Yeah, this is above my tax bracket, but you look fabulous.
- [00:36]
B
Poor, humble country lawyer, just trying to figure life out. Okay, honey, quiet and understated.
- [00:41]
A
You're back. We're talking about Diddy. We've had a lot of questions about Diddy's probation. After the sentencing, we remind her he was sentenced for just over four years for transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of the sex trafficking, acquitted of the rico, the more serious charges at his trial. He's officially appealed his conviction and sentencing. Now, Sean, at 2 or 3 in the morning, when his sentencing came through me and you were talking, a lot of people felt that it wasn't strong enough. They had their own personal opinions. You made the point to me that perhaps they don't realize how involved supervised release is. Other words, probation. And it's five years supervised release. Release. And now we know what the conditions of that release are. This is some of the stuff that jumped out to me. I just want to go through it with you. On the first page, it has mandatory conditions for Diddy's release. And as part of that, it says you must comply with the Sex Offenders Registration and Notifications Acts as directed by the probation officer, Bureau of Prisons, or any state sex offenders registration agency. Location where you reside, work, or are a student or were convicted for a qualifying offense. This might seem a bit stupid, but I hadn't even thought thought about a sex offender's registry at all. Transportation to engage in prostitution. There are victims of that crime. So therefore you're on the registry generically.
- [01:56]
B
As you mentioned, if you are convicted of some sex related crime, there is a possibility that you would have to register as a sex offender. There are a lot of times, Anushka, when we are representing individuals, I'm not exaggerating. There are some times people will come to us and say, I would rather go to prison for blank amount of time than have to register as a sex offender offender. Because when you have to register as a sex offender, the first thing is they don't put you in categories. You don't need to get to say, well, you know what? I was using the restroom in public. I was peeing at a park. And so I have to register as a sex offender as opposed to somebody who's convicted of an actual rape charge. So all the sex offenders are considered the same. Two, anywhere you go, you must let the world know, I am a registered sex offender. Three, somebody can go online and they've got a little blurb that says, sex offender lives here. Sex offender lives here. So everybody knows where the sex offender lives. There are certain countries you just can't visit that they have certain regulations that you can't come over here.
- [02:56]
A
You talk about registering. I mean, I was thinking more so like his baby love is like one or two. When they go to school, you have to go register at that school and.
- [03:06]
B
Say, yeah, think about it. You'd almost have to get. And that's the thing that people mistake about probation. They're like, oh, God, he's just getting probation. There's a little thing that we say that when a client gets five years probation, we tell them, you're never going to make it. You know how hard it is to make it on probation. How to ask somebody permission for everything. And after a while, you get comfortable and you make mistakes. And it's sort of like, hey, when you took your kid to the school, did you let the school know that you were a registered sex offender? Were you around any kids when she wanted you to pick up other kids? Did you have other kids inside of the car with you? I didn't think about it. I just went to all the potential.
- [03:43]
A
Mistakes when you talk about that. But then it's also coming into your space in the standard conditions of supervision. It says you must allow the probation officer to visit you at any time at your home or elsewhere. Actually, anytime, 3am in the morning.
- [03:57]
B
I mean, and this is a great point, because the United States has robust search and seizure rules. You know, about. When can we get inside of your property? If you remember Diddy's trial, his lawyers filed a lot of motions that they illegally seized things, they illegally went in places they shouldn't have done these things. And we have robust privacy laws on our search and seizure laws that you simply just can't go and search somebody stuff without warrants. You know, you've heard those phrase, did you get a warrant? Did you come in? When you're dealing with somebody who has been convicted they don't have those rights. We don't need a warrant. We can kick your door in at 3 o' clock in the morning, 4 o' clock in the morning, 5 o' clock in the morning. They can literally come into your house at 4:15am and say, we want you to take a drug test. Why? Because we want you to.
- [04:39]
A
We should point out that Diddy is a self admitted drug addict, that he had weapons with deface serial numbers in his property, that he had bodyguards who were carrying weapons. They come into the house, they see any of that, do they go and search for it or does it just have to be around?
- [04:57]
B
Oh, here's the great thing. They can search if they want to. They feel like searching, they just go in your house and search. So it doesn't have to be in plain view. He is no longer afforded the right of a regular citizen who is innocent until proven guilty. He is the exact opposite now. He is guilty until proven innocent. So if the probation officer has a reasonable belief that he has violated the law, they can go into his home and conduct a search. And it is almost, almost impossible for lawyers to challenge that search. And like, why were they there? Well, he doesn't have the same expectation of privacy as a regular citizen who has not been convicted for five years.
- [05:32]
A
Reasonable belief sounds like a fluid.
- [05:35]
B
Very fluid. Nebulous, very fluid. I was watching Instagram and some Instagram influencers said that they were around Diddy's house and they smelled weed. Well, I believe there's weed in the house. Let's go over there. You know what I mean? Like it's very nebulous.
- [05:49]
A
Switching gears, something else that struck me was we get a lot. The question, do you think Diddy's going to go back to making music? Do you think people are going to buy his music? Do you think he's going to have a career, et cetera. This was like the number one thing throughout the world. An impossible question to answer without a crystal ball. But it says in this you must work full time, at least 30 hours a week in a lawful type of employment unless excused. If you don't have full time employment, you must find someone. Unless excused. Well, most of his other companies cut ties with him, his media empire when he was incarcerated. So does this mean that he's kind of got, got to get back into the studio or does he have to head down job center and find something else to do?
- [06:27]
B
I don't see him working at the local bodega, like making a couple of dollars in an hour. I mean he is a music mogul, if you will. And I think he can be creative and his legal team can be creative on what he's trying to do, the work and given the way the world is now the way of influence, things of this nature, he'll be able to figure out a job. But yeah, he is required to be actively working at least 30 hours a week. He will be a little different based upon his background. But most people have to prove to their probation officer that they're actively working. So think about that. Also, it's legitimately almost as if Diddy has regressed to becoming a seven year old. The government is his parent and he needs to ask his parent, 7, 16 year old, are you working? Have you cut the grass? Are you using drugs? Like they're going, the government is his parent now and they're asking him every get your ass up and go to work. Did he go cut the grass? Did he, have you taken a drug test? Did he. Put some clothes on, Diddy. Don't. You're not sleeping all day, Diddy. That's what's going to happen. The government's going to be doing, doing for five years. So it is not an easy life.
- [07:31]
A
And you have to prove those 30 hours. So what's he got to be like, here's my mixtape, come to the studio with me. Like, how do you do that as a musician? It's not exactly a 9 to 5.
- [07:41]
B
That's what's going to be interesting. Like usually as John Q. Public, what we do is we get old boss man to sign off on it and give it back to us and say we're working. Diddy is boss man. So I wonder if he's going to sign his own clip. Diddy's been working here. Diddy. Diddy's been working 30 hours a week. Signed Diddy.
- [07:56]
A
I'm assuming that that is part of the, you know, rehabilitation element of they've gone to jail and now they're back as a functioning member of society.
- [08:04]
B
No, you're exactly right. We want to rehabilitate him and put him back into society to make sure there's no chance that these things ever happening again. And that's why they require the 30 hour work weeks. That's why they require the checking in. They want to make sure he is not going back to, to the lifestyle to create the recidivism so it may not happen again.
- [08:23]
A
You know, we've spoken in detail in depth about the Metropolitan Detention Center. That's not where he's going to be incarcerated for the rest of his time. But that jail, I can tell you from speaking to people who were incarcerated there that they felt that that had a massive negative impact on their mental health, that they were somewhat scarred from being in that jail. How quickly are you expected to kind of deal with the fact you're incarcerated and everything that comes along with that before you become that functioning of society?
- [08:52]
B
This is one of those questions that you and I could talk about for hours, because you are exactly correct. It's a difficult situation. It's just like we want you to get better and how we're going to get you better, put you around a bunch of people are accused of committing crimes. It's a hard situation. Anushka, like we say, we want you to be better, but are we really giving you the tools to be better? Mass incarceration, you know, here's Sean getting on a soapbox. Mass incarceration, I don't believe always works and does not get to our goals of what we want. And Diddy's going to find that also he's going to be around a bunch of other people who have committed crimes. And is he going to actually have the tools to get better? And how quickly is he going to have to get better? Because as you said, if he screws up anytime during that five years, he can go back. So in the roundabout way to ask your question, how long do you have to figure out the second you're out you're on the clock? Because if you mess up that day, you go back.
- [09:45]
A
And is this is a regular occurrence? It's typical for people who have five year supervisor release to make a mistake.
- [09:51]
B
Yes. And we often joke in South Carolina, the longest you can be put on, and I'm talking about state level probation is five years. And we joke, no one's going to make it five years on probation without some slip up. Because think about it as a natural human who have never done anything wrong. If I were to tell you today, and we know you don't drive, but I were to tell you today the.
- [10:13]
A
Speed limit is, I stimulate this economy, thank you very much.
- [10:17]
B
The speed limit is 50 miles an hour and for five years you cannot go 51 miles an hour, how often is someone going to mess up? Just a regular person. And it's the same situation. You can't violate a single rule, but if you violate one, we're going to revoke you. And so that's hard to do over a five year period of time. And so, yeah, I believe Diddy will slip just because it's hard for a natural human reaction to be perfect for five straight years.
- [10:41]
A
And I'm assuming this then impacts massively your personal life. I mean, I think he's single. I don't know if he's booed up since he's been in jail. But you start dating, do you have to say every new person that comes into your orbit, can you have a casual fling?
- [10:55]
B
Well, put yourself in this situation. Like if we're being generic, let's say Diddy tries to date a single mom. Hey, by the way, I'm a registered sex offender. You know, I can't come over and be around your kids. Hey, I got a time that I have to be home by you know, saying the being on probation will 100% affect you. That five year window is harder than people think it is.
- [11:16]
A
There's another thing in this. You have to get permission to interact with people who've been convicted of a felony.
- [11:22]
B
Yeah, welcome to the music industry. Right? I was like.
- [11:28]
A
And you know, that's not just specific to rap. When I was googling like music rock stars, how many of them have been.
- [11:33]
B
Incarcerated, I was specific the music industry. And that is one of the things like remember our goal is to make rehabilitation. And what they're trying to say is we don't to want want you hanging out with your whole life. We don't want you conglomerating with individual who are accused of crimes. And so if you're going to, you need to tell the probation agent and he is a quote unquote music mogul who puts together these tracks and hits and so forth. And is he going to be able to contact other musicians like look, I can't work with you because you're accused of a crime.
- [12:03]
A
What if the President of the United States invites him around for brunch for a catch up? Is he going to go back to jail for that? He's a convicted felon.
- [12:10]
B
Distinct possibility. You cannot go around. And that could be one of the conditions. Your probation agent wants to know, you want to go see djt, let me know, let me know why. Let me know why you're going to have this meeting. This is a violation of your probation. And if you get the wrong judge, the wrong agent, yes, they can be petty and like, look, you may know it, I may know it, but these are court orders. And so the court order says you can't hang out with somebody who is convicted of a crime. You can't pick and choose. You can't say, well it's the President, it doesn't Matter. The court has said you can't do blank and if you do it, you are in violation. It's more strict than people think.
- [12:43]
A
I mean, some of the stuff in here I feel is self explanatory and I expected, I think it says, it says you must not have contact with the victims in this case. This includes any physical, visual, written or telephonic contact with such persons. Additionally, you must not directly cause or encourage anyone else to have such contact with them. Now, straightforward as to be expected. But my question is Diddy has been fond or has a penchant for messages of love, long declarations and saying thank you to people. And he did this at the Grammys with Cassie after the end of their relationship, which we know was a tumultuous one. He thanked her when he won his Grammy for the Love of the Grid album, even though he was with Caresha Brown. Say he goes on Instagram two, three years down the line and is like, I just want to say sorry. I want you all to send love to Cass or Cassie's pregnant.
- [13:33]
B
Violation.
- [13:33]
A
I want you to viol. Right. So that, that I wouldn't send love to Cassie and her children.
- [13:38]
B
Bang. Violation.
- [13:39]
A
Damn. He does love a little message of love. I mean, he changed his name to it.
- [13:43]
B
Yeah. And his lawyers are probably sitting around to him and telling him, you know what, these are violations. You can't do them. And that's another reason why people are like, oh, it's a short sentence. Why would he be appealing? Because it's not a short sentence. It's five years after his sentence. And his lawyers would love to appeal or love to get the presidential pardon so that he does not have to go through all of that difficulty of trying not to violate to go back to prison.
- [14:05]
A
We got this question a lot. Good behavior, does that impact at all the length of probation or the jail sentence?
- [14:10]
B
It could affect the potential jail sentence, but those good time credits are already calculated into the amount of time. We've talked about that, that's already talked about his incarceration time as far as the five year supervised release. Now that's his time. Now he can petition the court. Like he could go to the court. Like they're not just going to just cut him off, but he could go and petition the court and ask the court and say, I need to be released. And these are the reasons why not going to happen.
- [14:35]
A
I don't know. But just hearing this is like for the first time we've gone through this, it kind of sounds, oh, I don't Want to say it sounds harder than being incarcerated, but like, it is really.
- [14:44]
B
There are parts of me that legitimately believe that in some situations being on probation is much harder.
- [14:51]
A
Well, I mean, I know you said nobody makes five years, but if you have any advice for the man, what would it be?
- [14:57]
B
Well, what we always tell people is just if you are truly a different person, truly a trained person, that we always tell them like, if you're not going to get in trouble, you're going to be fine. Don't put yourself in the situations. And I love that you asked the question like, what's did he going to go back to do? We advise people when they get out of incarceration. What were you doing before that caused you to get there? Don't go back.
- [15:16]
A
So he might go down job center because in the music industry is sex, drugs and rock and roll whichever way you look.
- [15:22]
B
And the question is, how long can you be on your best behavior before you mess up? Oh, six months. I'm not gonna go to that party. I'm not gonna go to the Grammys. I'm not gonna do that stuff. I'm changed. Seven months, man, I missed those Grammy months. Eight months, man, I'm getting kind of horny. Nine months. Y' all wanna come over, just couple of y' all to come over to a diddy party, only two people, two years later? Well, no, but probation ain't messing me. How about 20 of y' all come over and after a while you start getting comfortable. Hey, probation's over in six months. Let's throw a big ass party and then all of a sudden you're in violation.
- [15:53]
A
Well, good luck. Yeah, good luck, Sean. Thank you so much.
- [15:57]
B
Thank you for having me. Much appreciated.
- [15:59]
A
That was our resident trial attorney, Sean Kent from South Carolina. And that's it for this episode of Fame Under Fire. Send me questions and story suggestions on social media. It's Anoushkamd on Instagram and on TikTok. Make sure you subscribe and turn on your push notifications on BBC Sounds so you never miss a thing.
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C
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A
It's true.
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D
Lily Allen and Makita Oliver Pete's. I've got some questions for you, BBC Sounds. Tell me what you've enjoyed about our podcast so far.
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C
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D
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A
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C
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D
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