Sean 'Diddy' Combs case includes a charge steeped in racist history, attorneys argue
Sean "Diddy" Combs' lawyers are seeking to have one of the charges against him in a federal racketeering case dismissed because, they say, it's racist and has been been used disproportionately against Black men.
Combs is awaiting trial, tentatively scheduled to begin in May, on racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and violating the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
On Tuesday evening, his legal team filed a motion casting the prosecution under the Mann Act as racist — something prosecutors have denied in previous hearings. "Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is powerful, Black, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished," his lawyers argued in their motion.
The Mann Act was once called the White-Slave Traffic Act and was put into law in 1910 to prohibit the transportation of women for prostitution or other "immoral" purposes.
Combs' lawyers, however, argued to the court that the law's historic purpose has been to "target Black men and supposedly protect white women from them," pointing to the prosecution of Jack Johnson and Chuck Berry as past examples. Johnson was pardoned posthumously in 2018.
"High-profile white men, including former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, have engaged in similar conduct but were never charged under the Act," the motion said.
Read more: How Sean 'Diddy' Combs allegedly used his empire and employees to 'get his way' with women
Combs is accused of hiring escorts and having them cross state lines for sex in a federal indictment unsealed last year.
According to the motion, the escort service, which the motion does not name, is "not some secretive underground operation that was previously unknown. It has been operating in the open for over a decade. It has a website and over 10,000 followers on X [formerly Twitter]. As the company's own press page states, its operations have been featured in Playgirl, Glamour, Sheen, Hustler, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire."
Combs, who is being held in a federal correctional facility in Brooklyn, N.Y., has pleaded not guilty and maintained that he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
In a recently filed superseding indictment in Manhattan, federal prosecutors increased the number of alleged sex trafficking victims from one to three but does not identify them. The allegations of "Victim-1" mirror those made by singer and Combs' former girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, in a lawsuit filed in 2023. That suit was eventually settled. The expanded indictment also extended the duration of the alleged conspiracy, saying it began in 2004 instead of 2008 and lasted until 2024.
Read more: A wall of secrets may crumble as feds call out enablers of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' alleged sex crimes
The indictment alleges the Bad Boy Entertainment founder used his empire to coerce victims into sex in gatherings known as "freak-offs."
It alleges Combs 'used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims, including but not limited to three female victims,' to engage in commercial sex acts.
Combs was arrested in September after nearly a yearlong federal investigation.
Prosecutors allege that, as part of a sex trafficking scheme, Combs and his entourage engaged in violence, abuse, arson, and kidnapping and, during one abduction, brandished a firearm.
Combs' attorneys have unsuccessfully sought to exclude evidence they say was leaked, including a 2016 video, which shows Combs and Ventura in a hallway of the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles.
The video, obtained and published by CNN last year, shows Combs chasing Ventura down the hallway, kicking her, striking her and throwing a vase at her before dragging her back to the door of a room. The video, which quickly went viral, confirmed at least some of the physical abuse allegations against the singer detailed in the 2023 lawsuit.
Since the first indictment, a growing number of people have sued Combs, accusing him of sexual abuse, some of them minors at the time of the alleged acts. None of the federal allegations involve minors.
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Chicago Tribune
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- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: The Rolling Stones appear on Michigan Avenue in ‘tight trousers and haggard looks'
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 11, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1953: Celinus 'Clem' Graver, state representative and 'Bloody 21st' Ward Republican committeeman, was kidnapped from his garage half a block from his home at 976 W. 18th Place, as his wife and a friend watched. Graver was never heard from again. Part of the problem — Graver was a mystery himself. 'Although his government salary totaled only $5,000, he had two $30,000 homes, wore tailored suits and panama hats, and never carried less than $500 in cash,' Tribune reporter Ann Marie Lipinski wrote in 1978. 'Investigators also discovered that the ward committeeman, often described as 'ruggedly handsome,' had made several secret trips to Cuba before the kidnapping.' 1964: A news conference held by the Rolling Stones in Nathaniel Hale Court outside Tribune Tower was abruptly ended when Larry Koznatz, a barber at the Chicago Sheraton (now Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk) hotel, offered to give the five lads hair cuts. 1971: As TWA Flight 358 boarded at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Gregory White grabbed flight attendant Catharine Culver and put a gun to her neck. When passenger Howard L. Franks of Darien, Connecticut, tried to help Culver, White shot and killed him. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was the first time a passenger had been killed in a U.S. airplane hijacking. No metal detector had been used to screen passengers at the gate. White made Culver sit next to him aboard the aircraft and told all other passengers to exit the plane before it took off for New York, as scheduled. He demanded the pilot take him to North Vietnam, requested $75,000 and 'a machine gun with plenty of ammunition.' During the confusion, word spread at the airport that a short man was needed to crawl into the plane through its cockpit window. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Zito, 5 foot 6, who had just retired as chief of police in Cary, donned a captain's uniform, slid into the plane undetected, then waited. It was his first-ever plane ride, which he spent most of on his stomach 'dodging bullets and matching wits' with White. With the captain's permission, Zito fired two shots during the flight, which hit White in the shoulder. After the plane landed, Culver and the flight crew escaped without harm. White, who was taken into custody by federal agents, was later found incompetent to stand trial on hijacking and murder charges. White hung himself at Chester Mental Health Center in Illinois seven years later. 1997: In what would become known as the 'Flu Game,' a vomiting, dehydrated Jordan scored 38 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late in a series-shifting Game 5 win against the Jazz in Utah. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
Miami Herald
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American Black Film Festival is in Miami. Here are some films to check out
As the pandemic forced a global shutdown halting businesses, communities and touching every aspect of how society functioned in 2020, a pivotal election was brewing across the U.S. — one that would have a major effect on southern states. And as that chaos brewed, Black Voters Matter decided to meet the moment. Their efforts to energize and register voters is chronicled in a new documentary, 'Love, Joy & Power: Tools For Liberation.' That story is one of several films screening at the American Black Film Festival when it rolls into town this week highlighting Black storytellers and providing resources for those in the filmmaking industry. Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright said the film is a story about overcoming, pointing out the significance of the film's debut close to Juneteenth. 'It's not just the story of 2020 or the story of Black Voters Matters, it's really a story of how we have historically overcome, including going back to just Juneteenth,' he told the Herald. 'It shows the work that we're doing, but it also shows what movement is really like.' The film's timing is not lost on Albright, who said the story is essential at a time when Black stories and how they are shared is either being banned or altered in schools and libraries. 'Liberation' is just one of the films ABFF attendees can see when it kicks of Wednesday. We've put together a few more for you all to check out: 'Love, Joy & Power: Tools For Liberation' In this documentary, readers are taken on a journey through the efforts of Black Voters Matter to turn Georgia 'purple' in the 2020 election through grassroots voting efforts across the South, including Florida. The film, directed by Daresha Kyi, will screen at 1:10 p.m. Thursday at O Cinema. 'The ReWrite.' What is an authentic Black voice? That's what screenwriter Elliot (Stephen Barrington) obsesses over after he is told by white executives how Black people should sound and act. He wrestles with this as he tries to find the balance between being authentic and making money. 'I just want to sell without selling out,' he says. The film, directed by Terry Dawson, debuts at ABFF at 2:15 p.m. Thursday at Miami Beach Convention Center in Screening Room #2. 'Wait Until Tomorrow' The intersection of race, wealth and opportunity take center stage in this documentary that follows the lives of various Black families in the United States. The stories drive home the realities behind data examining the search for economic mobility. Directed by Osato Dixon will show at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at O Cinema. 'Carnival: They Can't Steal Our Joy' The colors. The beads. The feathers. The sounds. These are some of the things that make up Caribbean Carnival. But Ian Mark Kimanje's film, 'Carnival: They Can't Steal Our Joy,' pulls back the layers of the festival's significance culturally and historically in Toronto and beyond. Making its U.S. premier, the film will screen at O Cinema at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Miami Herald
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Black Film Festival spotlights Black storytelling with a made-in-Miami film
Kionne McGhee is a lot of things: The son of a South Dade bean picker. A former 5000 Role Models mentee. Howard University alum. Liberty City native. An attorney and a Miami-Dade commissioner. But in his film 'The Reject,' based on his two books 'A mer[e] I Can is American' and 'Conquering Hope,' we meet a child with dyslexia and ADHD, who struggled academically and dealt with chronic absenteeism, and confronts the deaths of his father and brother. And he's not ashamed of any of it, describing his film as one that tells the story of neurodiversity and how Black children can overcome those challenges to achieve success. 'The film tells the story of how those gifts, if taken in the right light and nurtured, can be beneficial to the person that God has given those gifts to and that person then can turn around and be of benefit to the community as a whole,' he told the Herald. McGhee's story is one of several powerful narratives that highlight Black South Florida stories to emerge in the past few years. 'The Reject' is showing at the American Black Film Festival, a showcase of Black talent, networking event for indie filmmakers and a who's who of Black actors, directors and producers that takes place this week in Miami. This year's festival, now in its 29th year, features an array of panels dedicated to Black storytelling, full-length films, documentaries and shorts films. Saturday's premier event, 'Remembering Love Jones' highlights the significance of the '90s film 'Love Jones' and features a conversation with co-stars and ABFF ambassadors Nia Long and Larenz Tate. There is also ABFF Community Day on Sunday which will include a screening of 'The Reject.' While McGhee's film is the only one set in South Florida featured in this year's lineup, it is the latest in a string of films set in the Miami area that center on Black stories to be produced in the last several years. Other films include 'Mountains' by Monica Sorelle, the Regina King-directed 'One Night in Miami,' the now-canceled HBO series 'Rap Sh!t,' and of course Academy-award winning movie 'Moonlight.' Creating films that focus on Black Miami comes at a crucial moment: Efforts to suppress Black history and literature in classrooms and libraries have been at a fever pitch in Florida and nationally, even as local activists, educators and historians push back against those attempts. Tate said it's important to normalize telling Black stories with an authentic, truthful voice and in unapologetic ways. 'We have a history of other groups telling our stories, shaping up the narrative from the prism of non- Blacks and that being the standard, and it was normalized,' Tate told the Herald. 'That's what needed to change. And when we are able to tell our stories in the most truthful, honest way, the most creative way, you know, the impact is everlasting, and that's what we need.' Tate said Black people need transition from being consumers of entertainment to being producers. 'We as a group, we support entertainment, we consume it,' he said. 'So it's important for us to balance the things out by not only being consumers, but also producers, and that's why I think it's really important for us to tell our stories.' The 'Moonlight' effect Tate said ABFF plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of Black artists such as Ryan Coogler and Liberty City native Barry Jenkins, whose first film, 'Medicine for Melancholy,' debuted at the festival. 'It is a place where we all can come in, have that synergy, to network and whatever experiences that we have over that week, we take that with us.' South Florida-based filmmaker Rachelle Salnave credits South Florida and ABFF with the start of her filmmaking career, even after having her first film, 'Harlem's Mart 125: The American Dream,' rejected for a screening at the festival years ago. At the time, Salnave had just received a hefty severance package after being laid off from a job. 'I got a pass to come to ABFF, and I was like, you know what? I'm not going to let their rejection stop me. I'm going to make everybody in this festival think that my film is in that festival,' she told the Herald. 'I did and it worked.' Salnave said she took a trip to the 2010 ABFF where she connected with a film professor and pitched Robert Townsend a short. 'I raised my hand real quick, and I got up there, and I was able to pitch to him live in front of 500 people,' she recalled. Salnave said the growth in Black Miami films is in part due to the success of 'Moonlight.' University of Miami film professor Terri Francis echoed that sentiment, noting that those who worked on that set, such as director Faren Humes, have gone on to have thriving careers in film. This year her friend's daughter, Ruby Rose Collins, has a short film about her late grandmother and filmmaker Kathleen Collins called, 'all the love i could handle' screening at the festival. 'The expertise that we're seeing in current independent films in the city, and also the legibility of their films does come from the work experience, and, of course, the accolades from that film,' Francis said, who has had Jenkins speak to one of her previous classes. 'Their films are all super different. People are not making 'Moonlight' over and over.' 'It's encouraging' Apart from the success of 'Moonlight,' South Florida documentary filmmaker Cathleen Dean, noted there are grants that have helped fuel the influx of Black films set or based in Miami. Still, she noted that even with that filmmakers aren't simply waiting for the funds to trickle in before they pick up a camera. 'It's encouraging that we have a lot of young filmmakers who are ambitious, who are not sitting around waiting for grants, and they're just getting out there, and they're doing their thing, and they're utilizing these new tools of social media and inexpensive cameras to get their stories told,' she said. Al Martin, chair of the University of Miami's Cinematic Arts department, said platforms such as Tubi have also diversified where independent filmmakers can post their movies. 'We have so many platforms on which stories can be told. For all of the discursive shade that gets thrown on Tubi, the fact is, is that it is giving a number of young Black filmmakers the opportunity to have their work shown on Tubi, and that is not unimportant,' he said. For as many Black stories that come out of South Florida, Dean hopes more are told and that the kinds of stories told are diversified. 'They need to be amplified, and not just sit in Miami-Dade at art house theaters, but show that these stories are important to the nation,' she said. She noted that McGhee's story is a step in encouraging diverse Black stories out of South Florida. 'It's inspiring, and it's encouraging to other people, to other young Black boys and girls,' she said. 'They know that they can come out of the projects and end up sitting in a seat of power up in Tallahassee.- Tate echoed those sentiments, saying ABFF is in many ways necessary to celebrate success for Black filmmakers and create opportunities for budding filmmakers. 'It's really important for us to have these types of festivals and these types of spaces [and] that we can look to each other, to celebrate each other and work with each other, and not look for permission from anyone else outside of what we're doing,' he said. 'Creatives from the entire diaspora that are coming together to celebrate and recognize one another.' If you go: What: American Black Film Festival When: June 11-15 Where: Miami Beach Convention Center, O Cinema, Lyric Theatre, New World Center - Performance Hall, Cost: Screenings range from free to $16; Remaining festival passes are as low as $680; Community Day is free Info:
