Diddy is moving to dismiss a charge in the superseding indictment filed against him, alleging that the law itself is “racist.”
The mogul’s motion, filed on Tuesday (February 18), focuses on the charge of transportation to engage in prostitution, one of three counts in the indictment along with sex trafficking and racketeering.
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It claims that there has never been a similar prosecution under the Mann Act and no white person has ever been targeted with the law, which has been in place for over 100 years and was designed to prohibit the transportation of women for sex.
The filing claims that Diddy is the victim of racism from the government, saying: “Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is a powerful Black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished.”
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It adds: “What was racist in its inception has often been racist in its operation.”
The filing also reiterates the defense’s argument that all sexual activity involving Diddy and others was consensual: “The government has concocted a criminal case based primarily on allegations that Mr. Combs and two of his longtime girlfriends sometimes brought a third party — a male escort — into their sexual relationship.”
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It also repeats the accusation that federal prosecutors have been leaking information about the case to the media: “The government’s handling of this case demonstrates bias and animus. It has gone out of its way to humiliate Mr. Combs and to prejudice the jury pool with pretrial publicity that plays on racist tropes. It has leaked damaging (and often times false) material to the press.”
The prosecution have yet to respond to Diddy’s motion to dismiss the charge or the allegations of racism.
The government previously rejected claims that they were discriminating against the Bad Boy boss based on his race.
During a pre-trial hearing last October, a prosecutor called similar accusations made by Diddy’s legal team “baseless” and claimed that they posed a “serious risk” to the conduction of a fair trial.
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Puffy, who has been in jail since his arrest last September, has denied all allegations against him and has repeatedly claimed that all instances of sexual activity were consensual.
His trial is currently scheduled to begin on May 5. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
