Convicted rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has written to the judge presiding over his criminal trial, pleading for mercy ahead of his sentencing on Friday and attributing his past behaviour to years of drug addiction.

In a four-page letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, dated Thursday, Combs apologised “for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused” and said that after 13 months in a Brooklyn jail, he has been humbled and reformed.

“I lost my way,” he wrote. “My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core. The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn.”

The 54-year-old music executive was found guilty in July of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and faces up to 20 years in prison. While prosecutors are pressing for at least 11 years, his lawyers have asked that he be released later this month.

Combs apologised directly to his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, who testified about being assaulted, saying: “I literally lost my mind. I’m sorry for that and always will be. My domestic violence will always be a heavy burden that I will forever carry.”

He also addressed an anonymous witness known as “Jane,” admitting that he had become “lost in the drugs and the excess.”

Combs argued he has turned a corner, citing sobriety for the first time in 25 years and teaching fellow inmates about entrepreneurship.

He urged the court to show leniency, not just for his sake but for his seven children and his 84-year-old mother, who recently underwent brain surgery.

“I ask to be made an example of what a person can do if afforded a second chance,” he wrote.

But his accusers painted a different picture. Ventura warned the court that she fears “swift retribution” if Combs is freed. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is,” she wrote.

Prosecutors echoed this in a September 29 filing, describing Combs as “unrepentant.” They argued: “The defendant tries to recast decades of abuse as simply the function of mutually toxic relationships.

But there is nothing mutual about a relationship where one person holds all the power and the other ends up bloodied and bruised.”

Combs, who was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges that carried a possible life sentence, is expected to speak in court Friday before sentencing.

His legal team plans to address the judge and present a 15-minute video in his defence.