Sean 'Diddy' Combs’ Special Treatment in Prison | NBA Stars Caught in a Gambling Web
Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.4 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The empire is gone, but the influence remains.
This week on "Zone 7," Sheryl McCollum and journalist Lauren Conlin discuss Sean “Diddy” Combs’ life inside federal prison, from coveted assignments and rule violations to the month of good time he lost. Drawing on her extensive coverage from jury selection to sentencing, Lauren explains how Diddy's actions inside prison expose the difference between reputation and reality.
Their conversation then turns to the NBA's gambling scandal, where federal investigators are piecing together evidence from rigged poker games, high-stakes payouts, and the athletes now under scrutiny.
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Highlights:
• (0:00) Welcome to Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum and guest Lauren Conlin
• (0:30) Lauren on her new Los Angeles Magazine role and coverage of the Diddy trial
• (3:15) Revisiting earlier predictions: Diddy’s special treatment and coveted prison job
• (5:00) Sentencing day details: defense missteps, emotional pleas, and the judge’s “severe sentence” remark
• (10:15) Prison conduct issues: alleged alcohol incident, phone call violations, and loss of release time
• (13:00) Diddy’s Thanksgiving initiative with inmate group “Bankroll Bosses”
• (14:45) Sheryl reflects on Diddy’s physical transformation, rehab reports, and adapting to life in prison
• (21:30) NBA gambling scandal: Chauncey Billups, mob-linked poker games, and the $50,000 payoff
• (26:15) Mountain of evidence: texts, surveillance, and why the case could drag well into 2026
• (31:30) Who flips First? Cooperation deal and the government’s strategy to secure testimony
• (32:45) Sheryl closes the episode with a Diddy quote on prison life
Guest Bio:
Lauren Conlin is a New York based journalist and contributor for Los Angeles Magazine, recognized for her coverage of high-profile federal trials and celebrity cases. A former HLN and CNN correspondent, she is regarded as one of the most trusted voices in pop-culture crime and justice.
About the Host
Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an active crime scene investigator for a Metro Atlanta Police Department and the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, which partners with colleges and universities nationwide.
With more than 4 decades of experience, she has worked on thousands of cold cases using her investigative system, The Last 24/361, which integrates evidence, media, and advanced forensic testing.
Her work on high-profile cases, including The Boston Strangler, Natalie Holloway, Tupac Shakur and the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching, led to her Emmy Award for "CSI: Atlanta" and induction into the National Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2023.
Social Links:
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @149zone7
• Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
• Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
Preorder Sheryl’s upcoming book, "Swans Don’t Swim in a Sewer: Lessons in Life, Justice, and Joy from a Forensic Scientist," releasing May 2026 from Simon and Schuster.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Swans-Dont-Swim-in-a-Sewer/Sheryl-Mac-McCollum/9798895652824
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:11.6 | Y'all remember Lauren Conlin? |
| 0:14.0 | She was the podcaster, reporter host of pop culture and true crime. |
| 0:19.2 | I would really love to have her tonight on this particular person to talk to, but we don't have her. |
| 0:24.6 | Who we do have is the contributor for Los Angeles Magazine, Lauren Conlon. |
| 0:31.6 | Hey honey, how are you? |
| 0:32.6 | Thank you, Cheryl. That was so funny. |
| 0:35.6 | Hey, congratulations. That's a nice new gig to add to all your other gigs. |
| 0:41.3 | Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I am so happy right now contributing for this very epic magazine. |
| 0:50.3 | And the magazine really is kind of shifting into crime and East Coast crime because clearly |
| 0:57.1 | I am here in New York City. So I'm covering a lot of New York local cases for them. And it's great. |
| 1:04.7 | It really is. And I did get this job right after the Diddy trial. And I am so thankful. I mean, the days of grinding, I don't think, |
| 1:13.6 | I think I maybe missed half a day of that trial, but those days were worth it. |
| 1:18.7 | I'm going to tell you covered that case like nobody else. I went to you before any other news or host or reporter, period. |
| 1:30.2 | Well, thank you so much. |
| 1:31.6 | That means so much to me. |
| 1:33.4 | And I felt like I did have an edge, I guess, in some ways because I wasn't limited to four |
| 1:40.4 | minute hits or four minute clips. |
| 1:42.6 | I was doing, you know, 10 to 12 minute updates, |
| 1:45.3 | which I found to be really helpful to everybody because I had time to really get into what |
| 1:51.0 | happened on both sides, the federal government as well as the defense, because just hearing |
... |
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