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The music mogul appeared covering his face and seeming dismayed when the court handed down a four-year, two-month sentence in a NY courtroom on the end of the week for charges involving prostitution.

Even though this sentence was significantly shorter than the life imprisonment he potentially faced when his conspiracy case began in May, Diddy appeared surprised by the decision. This ruling was delivered just moments after Combs had pleaded with Judge Arun Subramanian, stating he took full "responsibility and accountability" for his actions and affirming he was a transformed man who would, if released, devote himself to his loved ones and society.

This decision was announced with barely a noise in the chamber. Family supporters and advocates had been counseled by a clerk to control any display of their sentiments in check.

After the judgment was delivered, Combs appeared surprised to find two court marshals standing nearby, prepared to lead him back to Metropolitan detention center in the borough, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest more than a year before.

Exiting the chamber, there was a noticeable sense of letdown as neither prosecutors nor his legal team had gotten the decision they hoped for. Proceedings that had featured explicit accounts of misconduct, which the Combs had claimed was willing, concluded in a kind of anticlimax. The punishment handed down – 50 months – was 10 months less than a sentencing panel had recommended and below 50% of the 135 months government attorneys had requested.

Combs is expected to undergo only three more years in prison, with time he has already served removed. However the sentence was also, obviously, far longer than Combs and his backers had wanted, and perhaps even foreseen.

Combs was convicted of two counts of arranging prostitution in mid-summer, allegations arising from pressuring girlfriends to engage in complex "events" involving male prostitutes. But on the graver charges – of managing a mafia-like conspiracy that government lawyers asserted were created to satisfy a craving for power and dominance – he was found cleared.

"No matter of what anybody claims, I believe that I’m genuinely sorry," Combs addressed Subramanian. "I strayed in extremes, I got lost in my pride. Due to my decisions, I sacrificed my independence. I plead your excellency for mercy."

Combs's lawyer had spent a significant portion of the hearing contending that his client was a dedicated parent who had surrendered control of his existence after a medical procedure in two decades ago that resulted in him dependent to painkillers as his circumstances spiralled into chaos. Combs's six adult children testified on his behalf.

However the judge was unswayed by the defense arguments that the defendant should be freed, effectively, on prior detention. The defense exhausted all options in that endeavor, presenting pleas based on social fairness, early life distress, and his past position as a corporate and community advocate.

The judge appeared unpersuaded by Combs's statement that he was a transformed man, noting that he had taken part in an hurtful "event" with "the testifier", a testifier in the trial, subsequent to he posted an online statement subsequent to the publication of footage revealing him striking another past companion, Cassie Ventura.

The court cited statements provided by the influencer, an public figure, in which the defendant had instructed her to "take this fucking medication, get out there, suck his dick [referring to an prostitute]. You’re not going to ruin my evening."

"You mistreated them, physically, emotionally and psychologically," the court addressed Combs. "Why did it happen for so prolonged? Since you had the influence and means to keep it going, and since you avoided detection."

Subramanian showered accolades on Cassie and Jane for testifying, describing them "courageous individuals".

"Nothing about this case is favorable," the judge stated, "except for the survivors who came forward."

However even in its denouement, the proceedings of Sean Combs had an atmosphere of a carnival. In court, relatives came attired extravagantly, while exiting federal court in downtown NYC, advocates and online personalities each seemed to yell more vociferously than the next into recording devices, each propelled by enthusiasm spurred by closeness to Combs's celebrity.

Nonetheless the case will be viewed – as an overextension by government lawyers who speculated on turning a sex-trafficking case into a mafia-like conspiracy, or as an chapter in prolonged account about forceful control involving money, intimacy and power – Combs himself may have stated it most aptly: he informed the proceedings his actions had been "appalling, shameful and sick".