Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ “commercial voyeurism” does not qualify as prostitution, his defense lawyer argued in urging a judge to set aside a jury’s verdict finding the hip-hop mogul guilty on prostitution charges.
Combs, 55, faces up to 20 years in prison if the July 2 conviction stands. Jurors found he paid male escorts to travel across state lines to have sex with his girlfriends while he filmed and masturbated, but cleared him of more serious counts of sex trafficking and racketeering.
He had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, which could have landed him in prison for life.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who is overseeing the case, did not rule on Combs’ motion at Thursday’s hearing, but said he would issue a decision “very soon.”
At the hearing, defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro characterized Combs’ conduct during days-long, drug-fueled sex marathons sometimes known as Freak Offs as “commercial voyeurism.”
She said the law criminalizing transportation to engage in prostitution should be applied only to people who themselves took part in sexual activity, or to people making money off the prostitutes.
“The statute should be construed narrowly essentially to only apply to pimping,” Shapiro said.
Meredith Foster, a prosecutor with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, said Combs need not have personally taken part in the sex acts to be convicted, since he helped arrange for the male escorts to travel.
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