Prosecutors say Sean 'Diddy' Combs' request for acquittal or new trial should be swiftly rejected
NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors are urging a federal judge to quickly reject Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ request that he throw out a jury verdict or order a new trial after a jury convicted the music maven of two prostitution-related charges.Prosecutors said in papers filed shortly before midnight Wednesday that Combs masterminded elaborate sexual events for two ex-girlfriends between 2008 and last year that involved hiring male sex workers who sometimes were required to cross multiple state lines to participate.A jury in July exonerated the Bad Boy Records founder of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that carried the potential penalty of a mandatory 15 years in prison up to life behind bars.But it convicted him of two lesser Mann Act charges that prohibit interstate commerce related to prostitution.The Mann Act charges each carry a potential penalty of 10 years behind bars.
Combs has been denied bail despite his lawyers' arguments that their client should face little to no additional jail time for the convictions.Prosecutors said he must serve multiple years behind bars.
Combs has been in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his September arrest at a Manhattan hotel.Sentencing is scheduled for Oct.
3.Prosecutors wrote that Combs' attorneys were mistaken when they contended in a submission to the judge late last month that the Mann Act was unduly vague and violates his due process and First Amendment rights.“Evidence of the defendant’s guilt on the Mann Act counts was overwhelming,” prosecutors wrote.They noted that the multiday, drug-fueled sexual marathons that Combs demanded of his girlfriends involved hiring male sex workers and facilitating their travel across multiple states for what became known as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”Prosecutors said he then used video recordings he made of the sexual events to threaten and coerce the girlfriends to continue participating in the sometimes weekly or monthly sexual meetings.“At trial,...