Overview

• A federal jury found Combs guilty of transporting individuals, including sex workers, for sexual encounters across state lines under the Mann Act’s prohibition on interstate prostitution activities.
• He was cleared on more severe sex trafficking and racketeering counts that had carried potential life sentences.
• Originally passed in 1910 as the White-Slave Traffic Act, the Mann Act was broadened by a 1917 Supreme Court ruling and a 1986 amendment to cover all criminalized sexual activity regardless of gender.
• Defense attorneys highlighted the Act’s legacy of racially discriminatory enforcement, citing cases like boxer Jack Johnson and arguing Combs was singled out as a prominent Black figure.
• Combs faces an upcoming sentencing hearing under a law critics say grants prosecutors wide discretion to pursue selective enforcement.