Saskatoon made film hits theatres
Writer/Co-director Tim Boechler on his new feature film "Finding Emily" arriving on the big screen this weekend
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Prosecutors say Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' request for acquittal or new trial should be swiftly rejected
Sean ' Diddy' Combs, second from left, watches from the defence table as the judge speaks to the jury in Manhattan federal court on July 1, 2025. (Elizabeth Williams via AP) NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors are urging a federal judge to quickly reject Sean 'Diddy' Combs ' request that he throw out a jury verdict or order a new trial after a jury convicted the music maven of two prostitution-related charges. Prosecutors said in papers filed shortly before midnight Wednesday that Combs masterminded elaborate sexual events for two ex-girlfriends between 2008 and last year that involved hiring male sex workers who sometimes were required to cross multiple state lines to participate. A jury in July exonerated the Bad Boy Records founder of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that carried the potential penalty of a mandatory 15 years in prison up to life behind bars. But it convicted him of two lesser Mann Act charges that prohibit interstate commerce related to prostitution. The Mann Act charges each carry a potential penalty of 10 years behind bars. Combs has been denied bail despite his lawyers' arguments that their client should face little to no additional jail time for the convictions. Prosecutors said he must serve multiple years behind bars. Combs has been in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his September arrest at a Manhattan hotel. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 3. Prosecutors wrote that Combs' attorneys were mistaken when they contended in a submission to the judge late last month that the Mann Act was unduly vague and violates his due process and First Amendment rights. 'Evidence of the defendant's guilt on the Mann Act counts was overwhelming,' prosecutors wrote. They noted that the multiday, drug-fueled sexual marathons that Combs demanded of his girlfriends involved hiring male sex workers and facilitating their travel across multiple states for what became known as 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights.' Prosecutors said he then used video recordings he made of the sexual events to threaten and coerce the girlfriends to continue participating in the sometimes weekly or monthly sexual meetings. 'At trial, there was ample evidence to support the jury's convictions,' prosecutors said. They said Combs 'masterminded every aspect' of the sexual meetups, paying escorts to travel across the country to participate and directing the sexual activity that took place between the men and his girlfriends 'for his own sexual gratification' while sometimes joining in. Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, an R&B artist who dated Combs from 2008 through 2018, testified during the trial that Combs sometimes demanded the sexual meetups with male escorts every week, often leaving her too exhausted to work on her music career. She said she participated in hundreds of 'freak-offs.' A woman who testified under the pseudonym 'Jane' said she participated in 'hotel nights' when she dated Combs from 2021 to last September and that the events sometimes lasted multiple days and required her to have sex with male sex workers, even when she was not well. Both women testified that Combs had threatened to release videos he made of the encounters as a way of controlling their behavior. 'During these relationships, he asserted substantial control over Ventura and Jane's lives. Specifically, he controlled and threatened Ventura's career, controlled her appearance, and paid for most of her living expenses, taking away physical items when she did not do what he wanted,' prosecutors wrote. 'The defendant similarly paid Jane's US$10,000 rent and threatened her that he would stop paying her rent if she did not comply with his demands,' they said. In their submission requesting acquittal or a new trial, Combs' lawyers argued that none of the elements normally used for Mann Act convictions, including profiting from sex work or coercion, existed. 'It is undisputed that he had no commercial motive and that all involved were adults,' the lawyers said. 'The men chose to travel and engage in the activity voluntarily. The verdict confirms the women were not vulnerable or exploited or trafficked or sexually assaulted.' The lawyers said that Combs, 'at most, paid to engage in voyeurism as part of a 'swingers' lifestyle' and argued that 'does not constitute 'prostitution' under a properly limited definition of the statutory term.' Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky just might be the team-up people didn't know they needed
At a time when people are revisiting past treatment of women in pop culture, two outspoken personalities have joined forces for a new project. Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky are pictured in a split image. (Getty Images via CNN Newsource) At a time when people are revisiting past treatment of women in pop culture, two outspoken personalities have joined forces for a new project. Amanda Knox and Monica Lewinsky are both serving as executive producers on 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,' an eight-part dramatic limited series debuted Wednesday with Grace Van Patten starring in the title role. Lewinsky and Knox are bonded in having been publicly shamed, scorned and mocked for things that happened when they were young women. Knox told The Hollywood Reporter in an article published this week that she and Lewinsky became friends in 2017 after they shared a stage in a lecture hall. She said Lewinsky invited her up to her hotel room afterwards for some tea and talk. 'She had a lot of advice about reclaiming your voice and your narrative,' Knox told the publication. 'That ended up being a turning point for me.' In 2007, Knox was a 20-year-old exchange student living in Italy when she and her then 23-year-old Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were accused of murdering her 21-year-old roommate Meredith Kercher in their shared apartment in Perugia. Knox was dubbed 'Foxy Knoxy' (her MySpace user name) and there was an early theory that Kercher's death was part of an 'erotic game' involving her, Knox and Sollecito. Knox and Sollecito were convicted and spent nearly four years in prison before their convictions were overturned and they were vindicated – though there is still debate and curiosity about the crime. There was a media frenzy surrounding the case, and if anyone knows what Knox has lived through, it would be Lewinsky. Lewinsky was also in her early twenties in the 1990s when she engaged in a sexual relationship with then-U.S. president Bill Clinton while serving as his intern. Since then she has become a writer, producer, podcaster and an activist. On Monday she talked to CNN's Erin Burnett about what drew her and Knox together. 'I could see that there was a pain in her and it's a very unique pain that I recognized,' Lewinsky said. 'So I think there was an instant connection, an instant understanding of two young women who had become public people who hadn't wanted to, and had lost a lot of their identity.' Years after Knox was first launched into the public eye, Lewinsky read a New York Times interview in which Knox spoke of wanting to turn her memoir into a movie. 'I had a first look deal at the time, and I thought, you know, a story that we think we know that we don't is kind of right up my alley,' Lewinsky recalled. Hulu is marketing the limited series as telling the story of 'the eponymous American college student, who arrives in Italy for her study abroad only to be wrongfully imprisoned for murder weeks later,' adding that it 'traces Amanda's relentless fight to prove her innocence and reclaim her freedom and examines why authorities and the world stood so firmly in judgment.' Knox told THR, 'Living through this kind of experience leaves this lifelong mark on you that nobody can really understand.' 'There's a great desire to connect with people, but after being burned and taken advantage of for so long, you live with this constant terror that people will view everything you do or say in the worst possible light,' the now married mother of two young children said. 'When I met Monica, I was just glimpsing what it could mean to stand up for myself – and hope strangers would actually see me as a human being. So talking to her was a huge relief. No one had walked that walk before me more than she did.' By Lisa Respers France, CNN
CTV News
11 hours ago
- CTV News
Judge Frank Caprio, known for viral ‘Caught in Providence' series, dies at 88
In this Aug. 10, 2017 photo, Providence Municipal Court Judge Frank Caprio sits on the bench in Providence, Rhode Island. (AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith) American judge and reality TV star Frank Caprio has died at the age of 88, according to his official Facebook and Instagram accounts. 'Judge Frank Caprio passed away peacefully at the age of 88 after a long and courageous battle with pancreatic cancer,' according to a statement posted to his Instagram account. 'Beloved for his compassion, humility, and unwavering belief in the goodness of people, Judge Caprio touched the lives of millions through his work in the courtroom and beyond,' read the statement. 'His warmth, humor, and kindness left an indelible mark on all who knew him.' For nearly 40 years, Caprio served as a judge for the Providence Municipal Court, retiring in 2023. In his later years, he was known for his show 'Caught in Providence," which earned him multiple Daytime Emmy Award nominations. Caprio was affectionally known as the 'Nicest Judge in the World' after clips from his show went viral on TikTok. He held a significant online presence, with more than three million followers on Instagram and 1.6 million on TikTok.
