Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Fails in Bid to Toss Prostitution Verdict (1)

Sean “Diddy” Combs failed to persuade a federal judge to throw out a jury verdict finding him guilty on prostitution-related charges, ending his last-ditch effort to avoid sentencing on Friday.

The charges fall within the statutory definition of transportation for the purpose of prostitution, Judge Arun Subramanian of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, said Tuesday.

The judge also rejected the music mogul’s argument that because he’d filmed the sex acts at issue, they had constitutional free speech protections.

“Combs doesn’t show that the Mann Act’s text doesn’t plainly apply to him, where the evidence showed that he transported escorts for them to have sex for money,” Subramanian said. The conviction doesn’t implicate the First Amendment because the filming was “incidental” to the crime, the judge added.

Combs was acquitted in a July jury trial of the more serious racketeering and trafficking charges that carried potential life sentences. But he was convicted under the federal Mann Act of transporting escorts to engage in paid sex acts at his so-called “freak-off” parties.

After trial, Combs argued the verdict should be tossed on a number of grounds.

His attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, said to Subramanian that the Mann Act itself was an “embarrassment to the United States” and that Combs was being improperly penalized under it for consensual group sex among adults.

The statue should be reserved for cases of “pimping” or sex with minors, Combs’ legal team has argued.

But Subramanian on Tuesday rejected all those arguments and said the statute and conviction were sound.

“The correct definition of prostitution in the Mann Act is sex in exchange for money or its equivalent,” Subramanian said, adding that the definition “poses no constitutional problem.”

Manhattan federal prosecutors have said Combs’ conduct falls within the statute and deserves serious punishment because he abused his victims and doled out drugs at the “freak-off” sex parties.

His motion for the judge to set aside the jury verdict was seen as a long shot but paves a path for a potential appeal.

Subramanian is set to sentence Combs on Oct. 3. The singer has asked for 14 months, most of which he’s served. Prosecutors have requested 11 years.

The case is United States v. Combs, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:24-cr-00542, 9/30/25.