Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team is going on the offensive with a new motion that seeks to dismiss one of the three federal charges against him, claiming that the charges are racially motivated and that “no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution” under the Mann Act.
In the memorandum filed on Tuesday evening, reviewed by Variety, counsel for Combs stated that there has “never been a similar RICO prosecution” and that he has been “singled out because he is a powerful black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished.”
The memorandum specifically addresses Count Three of his S1 Indictment, alleging that from 2009 to 2024, he engaged in transportation to engage in prostitution. The conduct at issue concerns the sexual activity between his girlfriends and alleged male escorts that were hired through a legal escort service, which they claim was consensual.
“Many couples, including wealthy high-profile couples, involve third parties in their sexual relationships, sometimes for implicit or explicit remuneration,” reads the filing, which points out that successful white men like former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer engaged in similar activity but were not charged under the same law. “Such conduct has never previously triggered Mann Act liability.”
His counsel states that the count should be dismissed as an instance of selective prosecution, as the Mann Act has a history of racist enforcement and is also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act. “This prosecution is yet another instance where [the Mann Act] has been invidiously deployed against a prominent black man,” concludes the memorandum.
Combs is currently incarcerated in Brooklyn ahead of his May trial. In Sept. 2024, he was charged with racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution.
