Overview

• At a 90‑minute Manhattan hearing, Judge Arun Subramanian took arguments on vacating two Mann Act counts or granting a new trial and reserved decision.
• Combs was convicted on July 2 of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and acquitted of racketeering and sex‑trafficking charges.
• Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro argued Combs arranged and filmed consensual encounters as an amateur porn producer and said the First Amendment protects that expressive conduct.
• Prosecutors countered that the crime was arranging and funding interstate travel for paid sex, citing testimony that Combs directed the encounters and used drugs and violence against Cassie Ventura and a woman known as Jane.
• Combs remains detained after two bail denials; prosecutors are due to file sentencing recommendations by September 29, and sentencing is scheduled for October 3 if the convictions stand.