A former girlfriend of Sean Combs who was once part of the government’s sex-trafficking case against him wrote a letter in support of the music mogul’s release from jail ahead of his sentencing for prostitution-related offenses.
The woman, Virginia Huynh, was included in the indictment as one of the women Mr. Combs was accused of coercing into sex. Often referenced in court proceedings as “Victim-3,” Ms. Huynh did not ultimately testify at the trial, and her departure from the case was not publicly explained.
Ms. Huynh’s letter was filed in court by Mr. Combs’s lawyers on Sunday to bolster their argument that their client should be granted bail. Addressing Arun Subramanian, the judge overseeing the case, Ms. Huynh spoke highly of Mr. Combs, describing him as a “family man” who, she believed, would adhere to bail conditions.
“Our relationship, like many, was not always perfect, we experienced ups and downs, and mistakes were made, but he was willing to acknowledge his mistakes and make better decisions in the future,” the letter said. “Over the years that followed he made visible efforts to become a better person and to address the harm he had caused.”
Mr. Combs, known as Diddy and Puff Daddy, has vehemently denied sex trafficking anyone since the start of the case and has maintained that his sexual relationships with the women were fully consensual.
A jury acquitted Mr. Combs last month of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charges against him, at the conclusion of an eight-week trial at Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan. He was convicted on two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, violations related to voyeuristic sex marathons known as “freak-offs” and “hotel nights” that involved Mr. Combs, his girlfriends and hired male escorts. Each carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
After the verdict, Judge Subramanian ordered that Mr. Combs remain in jail ahead of sentencing, pointing to the defense’s admissions that he had been violent with two former girlfriends who testified at trial.
The defense has been trying to persuade the judge to reconsider, arguing that Mr. Combs would not pose a danger to the community if he were released from jail ahead of his sentencing on Oct. 3.
In opposing Mr. Combs’s bid for release, prosecutors identified Ms. Huynh in a court filing as another victim of Mr. Combs’s violence. They cited testimony from the trial in which a former executive assistant to Mr. Combs said that in 2015, he saw his boss angrily throwing apples from a decorative holder at Ms. Huynh, who shielded herself with her arms.
“The defendant’s extensive history of violence — and his continued attempt to minimize his recent violent conduct — demonstrates his dangerousness and that he is not amenable to supervision,” prosecutors wrote in the recent filing.
In a 2019 interview, Ms. Huynh described being subjected to physical abuse by Mr. Combs, including having her stomach stomped on and her head punched. Those allegations were not brought forward at trial.
In her letter to the court, Ms. Huynh identified herself as “Victim-3” and submitted what amounted to a character reference for Mr. Combs, saying that by the end of their relationship, he “embodied an energy of love, patience and gentleness that was markedly different from his past behavior.”
“I am writing because I do not view Mr. Combs as a danger to me or to the community,” the letter said.
In court proceedings ahead of the trial, prosecutors had accused Mr. Combs of sex trafficking three of his girlfriends, including Ms. Huynh, as part of a criminal conspiracy dating back two decades. Prosecutors said that Mr. Combs coerced two of the women — Casandra Ventura and a woman who used the pseudonym “Jane” — into sex with male escorts, but the allegations involving Ms. Huynh did not involve “freak-off” activity.
Although the government at one point said that Ms. Huynh intended to testify under her real name, there were hints early in the trial that she was drifting from the case when prosecutors told the judge that they were having trouble reaching her lawyer. She faded into the background of the trial, her name invoked only as a former girlfriend whose relationship with the famed producer sparked bouts of jealousy from Ms. Ventura.
After the verdict, a lawyer for Ms. Ventura — who testified that she had been subjected to repeated violence from Mr. Combs during their decade-long relationship — submitted a letter to the judge asking for Mr. Combs to remain in jail ahead of sentencing. “Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community,” Ms. Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, wrote.
In recent days, speculation has surged around whether President Trump would consider pardoning Mr. Combs. During the trial, Mr. Trump, who overlapped with Mr. Combs in the ritzy, party-loving social circles of the New York City elite in the 1990s, said he would “certainly look at the facts” of the case.
But when he was asked about the possibility of a pardon in an interview on Newsmax last week, Mr. Trump said he was leaning against it, noting that he was once “very friendly” with Mr. Combs, but that the music producer turned “very hostile” toward him when he ran for office. In 2020, Mr. Combs endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. for president, saying “we have no choice now to get Trump out of there.”
“When you knew someone and you were fine,” Mr. Trump said in the television interview, “and then you run for office and he made some terrible statements, so, I don’t know, it’s more difficult.”
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
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