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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, there was ample evidence to support the jury’s convictions,” prosecutors said.
They said Combs “masterminded every aspect” of the sexual meetups, paying escorts to travel across the country to participate and directing the sexual activity that took place between the men and his girlfriends “for his own sexual gratification” while sometimes joining in.
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, an R&B artist who dated Combs from 2008 through 2018, testified during the trial that Combs sometimes demanded the sexual meetups with male escorts every week, often leaving her too exhausted to work on her music career. She said she participated in hundreds of “freak-offs.”
A woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” said she participated in “hotel nights” when she dated Combs from 2021 to last September and that the events sometimes lasted multiple days and required her to have sex with male sex workers, even when she was not well.
Both women testified that Combs had threatened to release videos he made of the encounters as a way of controlling their behavior.
“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 said.
In their submission requesting acquittal or a new trial, Combs’ lawyers argued that none of the elements normally used for Mann Act convictions, including profiting from sex work or coercion, existed.
“It is undisputed that he had no commercial motive and that all involved were adults,” the lawyers said. “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 lawyers said 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.”

LONDON: Britain's future king Prince William and his family are moving to a new home on the royal Windsor estate, prompting uncertainty about the future of Buckingham Palace.
They will reportedly move into Forest Lodge, an eight-bedroom mansion dating to the late 18th century, larger than their current four-bedroom home on the estate, west of London.
William and his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales, are said to regard the property as their "forever home", according to The Sun newspaper which broke the story, citing a source close to the couple.
A Kensington Palace spokesperson confirmed to AFP "the Wales family will move house later this year", without giving further details.
The Sun added that the couple were paying for the renovations, the move and the rent themselves, as insiders told the daily they were hoping for a "fresh start" following Kate's 2024 cancer diagnosis and treatment.
William and Catherine's three children George, 12, Charlotte, 10, and Louis, seven, all attend a nearby school.
But the family putting down permanent roots at Windsor has cast uncertainty over Buckingham Palace's future as the official London residence of the monarch.
"It would be a disaster if Buckingham Palace were sidelined," royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told AFP.
"It is an iconic building, comparable only to the White House and known worldwide," he said.
Sovereigns have lived at Buckingham Palace since 1837.
Located in the heart of London, not far from parliament and Number 10 Downing Street, it is also the venue for numerous royal events from summer garden parties to state banquets.
During the summer months, parts of the 755-room palace are open to the public.
But King Charles III, 76, does not live there currently and will not do so for the foreseeable future amid an ongoing £369 million ($429 million) renovation.


The extensive work, which also saw the late queen Elizabeth II relocating to Windsor Castle before her death in 2022, is not due to be completed until 2027.
Charles, who announced in early 2024 that he had been diagnosed with cancer, does plan to make Buckingham Palace his London base after the work is finished.
But he is widely reported to prefer the more homely Clarence House where he has lived since 2003.
"It is the intention of King Charles and Queen Camilla to do so (move to Buckingham Palace) although given that he is battling cancer, this may well not happen," Fitzwilliams said.
Like Charles, William is said to be keen to open up the vast palace to more tourists and expand royal events there, according to The Daily Mail.
It is just one of a string of properties used by the royal family, either owned privately or by the Crown.
The late queen's preferred homes were Windsor Castle and Balmoral Castle in Scotland, to which she would retreat every summer.
Christmases were spent at Sandringham House in eastern England.
Charles meanwhile lavished attention on Highgrove House in western England, where he transformed the gardens, and he resides at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate when in Scotland.
Other royal properties include the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.


William and Catherine also enjoy a number of homes.
Holidays are spent at Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate and they have use of the vast apartment 1A at Kensington Palace in west London.
"There is the danger the monarchy is perceived to have too many homes," Fitzwilliams said.
But he added "those who criticise the monarchy's costs should note that the Buckingham Palace renovation is on schedule and not exceeding its budget".
Buckingham Palace would always have a vital role to play, he added.
"It absolutely must remain the centre of the monarchy, whether or not William and Catherine actually live in it," he said.
Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell, however, cautioned about a less visible future king not being in residence at Buckingham Palace.
A YouGov poll last year found that only a third (35 percent) of 18- to 24-year-olds wanted to maintain the monarchy, compared to "fairly broad" support in the population overall.
"I fear a future part-time king hiding away in Forest Lodge... could result in an even greater collapse of support among his subjects," she wrote.
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Daily Mail