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5d ago

Diddy Convicted Under Mann Act for Transporting Individuals to Engage in Prostitution, Cleared of Trafficking and Racketeering

Sentencing is pending appeals that will test scrutiny of the Mann Act’s century-old record of racially biased enforcement.

In this courtroom sketch, Sean “Diddy” Combs, rights, leads his family in a prayer before the verdict was read, convicting him of prostitution-related offenses but acquitting him of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Sean "Diddy" Combs at Howard University on October 20, 2023.
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Overview

  • A federal jury in New York convicted Combs on July 2 of prostitution-related counts under the 1910 Mann Act while acquitting him of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that carried potential life sentences.
  • Combs’s legal team plans to appeal the verdict, arguing that the law’s origins as the White-Slave Traffic Act targeted Black men and that its enforcement remains racially selective.
  • Enacted by Congress in 1910 to bar interstate transport of women for “immoral purposes,” the Mann Act was amended in 1986 to remove moralistic language and become gender-neutral.
  • A 1917 Supreme Court ruling extended the Act to consensual interracial relations, and it has since been used against prominent figures such as Jack Johnson, R. Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell.
  • Legal scholars say the case highlights enduring debate over the Mann Act’s broad wording and its role in modern prosecutions of prostitution.