Diddy's recent argument that one of the counts in his indictment is racially motivated is recieving serious backlash from prosecutors. In documents obtained by AllHipHop, Acting United States District Attorney Matthew Podolsky says that race played “no role whatsoever” in the charges. Instead, he says that the Mann Act violation is “overlapping and intertwined” with other counts in the state's case. “The Motion misleadingly suggests that anyone who has ever hired an escort is similarly situated to [Diddy],” Podolsky explained. He claimed that the charges include “aggravating factors” different from other cases his attorney's cited in their recent motion.
Diddy's team had cited cases against New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Jerry Falwell Jr., and more to make their argument. "[Diddy] used his wealth and power to build an enterprise characterized by violence against victims, employees, and rivals alike,” Podolsky said. “And he used that same enterprise to fund the transportation of victims and escorts in violation of the Mann Act. Nothing in the Motion suggests that Spitzer, Falwell, or the other clients of the escort service transported escorts as part of a pattern of racketeering activity or that they committed any other crimes whatsoever during the same period when they engaged in commercial sex.”
When Is Diddy Going On Trial?
Diddy is currently behind bars while awaiting trial for the charges of alleged sex trafficking and racketeering. He's already pleaded not guilty and repeatedly denied all of the allegations he's faced. His trial will be kicking off in May.
As for the Mann Act, Diddy's lawyers wrote in their motion from February that the act, which was originally named the White-Slave Traffic Act, has “a long and troubling history as a statute with racist origins, used to target Black men and supposedly protect White women from them.” It's one of several tactics his legal team has used to attempt to dismantle the state's case.
[Via]
