NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors are urging a federal decide to shortly reject Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ request that he throw out a jury verdict or order a brand new trial after a jury convicted the music maven of two prostitution-related prices.
Prosecutors stated in papers filed shortly earlier than midnight Wednesday that Combs masterminded elaborate sexual occasions for 2 ex-girlfriends between 2008 and final yr that concerned hiring male intercourse staff who typically had been required to cross a number of state traces to take part.
A jury in July exonerated the Dangerous Boy Information founding father of racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking prices that carried the potential penalty of a compulsory 15 years in jail as much as life behind bars. Nevertheless it convicted him of two lesser Mann Act prices that prohibit interstate commerce associated to prostitution.
The Mann Act prices every carry a possible penalty of 10 years behind bars. Combs has been denied bail regardless of his attorneys’ arguments that their consumer ought to face little to no further jail time for the convictions. Prosecutors stated he should serve a number of years behind bars.
Combs has been in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his September arrest at a Manhattan lodge. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 3.
Prosecutors wrote that Combs’ attorneys had been mistaken once they contended in a submission to the decide late final month that the Mann Act was unduly imprecise and violates his due course of and First Modification rights.
“Evidence of the defendant’s guilt on the Mann Act counts was overwhelming,” prosecutors wrote.
They famous that the multiday, drug-fueled sexual marathons that Combs demanded of his girlfriends concerned hiring male intercourse staff and facilitating their journey throughout a number of states for what turned often called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”
Prosecutors stated he then used video recordings he manufactured from the sexual occasions to threaten and coerce the girlfriends to proceed taking part within the typically weekly or month-to-month sexual conferences.
“At trial, there was ample evidence to support the jury’s convictions,” prosecutors stated.
They stated Combs “masterminded every aspect” of the sexual meetups, paying escorts to journey throughout the nation to take part and directing the sexual exercise that befell between the lads and his girlfriends “for his own sexual gratification” whereas typically becoming a member of in.
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, an R&B artist who dated Combs from 2008 by means of 2018, testified through the trial that Combs typically demanded the sexual meetups with male escorts each week, typically leaving her too exhausted to work on her music profession. She stated she participated in a whole lot of “freak-offs.”
A girl who testified underneath the pseudonym “Jane” stated she participated in “hotel nights” when she dated Combs from 2021 to final September and that the occasions typically lasted a number of days and required her to have intercourse with male intercourse staff, even when she was not nicely.
Each ladies testified that Combs had threatened to launch movies he manufactured from the encounters as a approach of controlling their conduct.
“During these relationships, he asserted substantial control over Ventura and Jane’s lives. Specifically, he controlled and threatened Ventura’s career, controlled her appearance, and paid for most of her living expenses, taking away physical items when she did not do what he wanted,” prosecutors wrote.
“The defendant similarly paid Jane’s $10,000 rent and threatened her that he would stop paying her rent if she did not comply with his demands,” they stated.
Of their submission requesting acquittal or a brand new trial, Combs’ attorneys argued that not one of the components usually used for Mann Act convictions, together with cashing in on intercourse work or coercion, existed.
“It is undisputed that he had no commercial motive and that all involved were adults,” the attorneys stated. “The men chose to travel and engage in the activity voluntarily. The verdict confirms the women were not vulnerable or exploited or trafficked or sexually assaulted.”
The attorneys stated that Combs, “at most, paid to engage in voyeurism as part of a ‘swingers’ lifestyle” and argued that “does not constitute ‘prostitution’ under a properly limited definition of the statutory term.”
