US judge rejects bid by Sean 'Diddy' Combs to overturn prostitution conviction

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge rejected on Tuesday a bid by Sean "Diddy" Combs to overturn his criminal conviction on felony prostitution-related charges, with the hip-hop mogul facing up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing.  The decision was issued by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan. Jurors found Combs, 55, guilty in July on prostitution charges following a two-month trial but acquitted him of more serious counts of sex trafficking and racketeering. Combs was accused of paying male escorts to travel across state lines to have sex with his girlfriends, while he recorded video of their activity and masturbated. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges, which could have landed him in prison for life. Combs is due to be sentenced on October 3. Defense lawyers had urged Subramanian in a July 30 court filing to set aside the verdict because Combs did not himself have sex with the prostitutes or his girlfriends during the days-long, drug-fueled sex marathons sometimes known as "Freak Offs." They also argued that Combs was recording video of the encounters as "amateur pornography," which they called protected speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office said in an August 20 filing that Combs did not need to have personally taken part in the sex acts to be convicted because he helped arrange for the male escorts to travel. The prosecutors said he used the video as blackmail by threatening to release them if his girlfriends stopped taking part in the encounters.  TRIAL CENTERED ON FREAK OFFS  Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, is credited with elevating hip-hop in American culture. He was arrested on sex trafficking charges on September 16, 2024, and has since been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.     During his trial, prosecutors said he coerced two former girlfriends – rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, and a woman known by the pseudonym Jane – into the sexual performances. Both women testified that Combs physically attacked them and threatened to cut off financial support if they refused to participate in the sex performances. Lawyers for Combs acknowledged that the physical attacks occurred, but argued there was no direct link between what they called domestic violence and the women's participation in the sex performances. They also said the two women consented to the encounters because they loved Combs and wanted to make him happy. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

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