{"id":7972,"date":"2025-10-01T08:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-judge-refuses-to-overturn-convictions-or-order-new-trial\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T08:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:31:12","slug":"diddy-judge-refuses-to-overturn-convictions-or-order-new-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-judge-refuses-to-overturn-convictions-or-order-new-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Diddy Judge Refuses to Overturn Convictions or Order New Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tA<\/span> federal judge has denied a bid by Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs to overturn his prostitution convictions, clearing the path for sentencing later this week.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a ruling late Tuesday (Sept. 30), Judge Arun Subramanian rejected Combs\u2019 various arguments for a new trial, including his eyebrow-raising claim that the \u201cfreak-off\u201d sex parties at the heart of the case were just porn movie shoots protected by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cIllegal activity can\u2019t be laundered into constitutionally protected activity just by the desire to watch it,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cCombs\u2019s conduct goes far beyond that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Subramanian also rejected arguments about the Mann Act, the federal prostitution law Combs violated. His lawyers argued that the star merely hired men for consensual sex with his girlfriend, which they said didn\u2019t meet the definition of \u201cprostitution.\u201d But the judge didn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat definition would narrow prostitution almost out of existence,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt would exclude any situation in which a person pays a third party (like a brothel) to have sex with an employee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ruling will clear the way for Combs\u2019 sentencing, which is scheduled for Friday (Oct. 3). Prosecutors are seeking 11 years, while defense attorneys say Combs should get just 14 months \u2014 a sentence that would see him released almost immediately on time served.<\/p>\n

\n\tCombs was arrested and charged in September 2024 with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking violations over accusations that he ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating \u201cfreak-offs\u201d \u2014 elaborate events which he allegedly forced ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and other women to have sex with male escorts while he watched and masturbated.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing a blockbuster trial this spring, jurors issued a verdict clearing Combs on the RICO and sex trafficking charges that could have seen him sentenced to prison for life. But he was still convicted on two other counts for transporting Ventura and others across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn July, Combs\u2019 lawyers asked the judge to overturn those convictions, calling them an \u201cunprecedented\u201d and unconstitutional use of the Mann Act against their client.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSean Combs sits in jail based on evidence that he paid adult male escorts and entertainers who engaged in consensual sexual activities with his former girlfriends, which he videotaped and later watched with the girlfriends,\u201d his lawyers wrote. \u201cThat is not prostitution, and if it is, his conviction is unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in Tuesday\u2019s decision, Judge Subramanian said there were no constitutional issues with the century-old statute or the way the government was now wielding it against Combs.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCombs is right that the Mann Act\u2019s text and application have changed over the last century,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cBut that has little relevance to his conduct, which sits at the heartland of the Act\u2019s legitimate proscriptions. Unsurprisingly then, his conviction raises no constitutional problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe judge also rejected arguments that there was simply not enough evidence to support the prostitution convictions. He ruled that prosecutors had \u201cpresented overwhelming evidence of Combs\u2019s guilt under the Mann Act on many occasions\u201d and that the government \u201cproved its case many times over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to clearing the way for sentencing, Tuesday\u2019s ruling also sets the stage for Combs\u2019 certain appeal of his convictions. Procedurally, such post-trial motions must be filed and denied by a trial judge before an appeal can be filed at a circuit court.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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A federal judge has denied a bid by Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs to overturn his prostitution convictions, clearing the path for sentencing later this week. In a ruling late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[330,296,423,1574,942,5311,342],"class_list":["post-7972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-convictions","tag-diddy","tag-judge","tag-order","tag-overturn","tag-refuses","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}