Diddy Verdict Explained By A Lawyer

Buzz Feed

5 days ago

Yesterday, Sean "Diddy" Combs was found guilty on two federal charges of transportation for purposes of prostitution. However, he was acquitted of the more serious charges: Racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.
The not-guilty verdicts might come as a surprise to those who have tangentially been keeping up with the case. So, BuzzFeed spoke to attorney Adante Pointer (Pointer and Buelna) for his perspective.
In short, Pointer thinks that the charges were an "overreach" by the federal government. "If the government had brought a case for domestic violence or for being a batterer or an abuser, I think he would have been convicted, hands down. It wouldn't have been much of a fight for that, but that's not what they charged him with," he explained.
However, Pointer notes that these lesser convictions are typically handled on a state level, where the statute of limitations may have already passed: "There wasn't going to be a state case, and the only way that they could get any accountability or a criminal charge against any would have been in federal court."
So let's start with the racketeering charge. According to Pointer, the prosecution essentially tried to argue that "Diddy and his employees essentially had a criminal enterprise that they used to conduct crime-the crime here being sex trafficking and essentially forcing or coercing women to engage in sexual conduct." He said that the law was created to deal with "hardened, established gangsters" who run mafia-style businesses under a front.
Pointer says the charge ran into two issues. Firstly, no one else was charged in the "conspiracy," which by definition must incIude another person. Secondly, he said that any sexual misconduct was not the "primary job or the primary purpose of the business enterprise."
Then there's the sex trafficking. "Most people think about those charges in America against what we would call a 'pimp,' someone who essentially is holding people against their will and forcing them to go have sexual activities with the people. The johns or the customers pay the pimp, and the women or the kids or the men never receive any money for their services," Pointer explained. "Sexual slavery is another term that can be used for that."
It's likely that the prosecution's evidence of the purported victims expressing interest in participating in the "freak-offs" was successful in getting Diddy acquitted on the sex trafficking charges. Pointer reasoned, "We can be against sexual and relationship violence, but we can also be supportive of the rule of law and making sure that people are appropriately charged for what they actually violated."
The prostitution charges come from the 1910 Mann Act, which Pointer called "vague" and an "easy law to be prosecuted by." As the law stems from a hysteria over "white slavery," Pointer explained, "All it takes is for you to have paid some money or someone to travel to engage in a consensual sexual act. It does not require coercion. It does not require force. It doesn't require any of the things that you would think of for it to be a federal charge."
As for what happens next, Pointer thinks that Diddy's lack of previous criminal convictions and philanthropic history will be used to essentially get him a "slap on the wrist." He added, "I think he'll just get probation and be given credit for the time that he's already served in jail."