NEW YORK — A US judge on Tuesday rejected a bid by Sean “Diddy” Combs to overturn his criminal conviction on felony prostitution-related charges, after prosecutors said the hip-hop mogul should spend more than 11 years in prison.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan found “overwhelming evidence of Mr. Combs’ guilt” related to his treatment of two former girlfriends: rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura, and a woman known in court as Jane.

Prosecutors said Mr. Combs arranged for male prostitutes to travel across state lines to engage in drug-fueled sexual performances known as Freak Offs with his girlfriends, while he watched, recorded videos and masturbated.

Ms. Ventura and Jane testified that Mr. Combs physically attacked them, and threatened to cut off financial support if they resisted the performances.

“The government proved its case many times over,” the judge wrote.

Mr. Subramanian also rejected arguments that evidence used to support the more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges on which Mr. Combs was acquitted tainted the prostitution case.

Lawyers for Mr. Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for US Attorney Jay Clayton in Manhattan did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Mr. Combs, 55, was found guilty by a Manhattan jury on July 2 of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, following an eight-week trial. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to appeal his conviction.

Prosecutors asked Mr. Subramanian to sentence Mr. Combs to 11-1/4 years in prison at the scheduled Oct. 3 sentencing.

Defense lawyers asked for no more than 14 months, which if granted could result in Mr. Combs’ freedom this year because he would get credit for time served at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his Sept. 16, 2024 arrest.

COMBS HELD ‘ALL THE POWER,’ US SAYS
Mr. Combs founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with popularizing hip-hop in American culture.

But in seeking a 135-month sentence, prosecutors cited evidence at trial that Mr. Combs led a different life outside the public eye, physically beating his girlfriends and giving them illegal drugs.

“The defendant tries to recast decades of abuse as simply the function of mutually toxic relationships,” prosecutors wrote. “But there is nothing mutual about a relationship where one person holds all the power and the other ends up bloodied and bruised.”

In a letter to the judge, Ms. Ventura, known as Cassie, said Mr. Combs used violence, threats, and drugs to “trap” her into Freak Offs, starting when she was 19.

“Sex acts became my full-time job,” Ms. Ventura wrote. “His power over me eroded my independence and sense of self until I felt I had no choice but to submit.”

Mr. Subramanian rejected Mr. Combs’ arguments that the prostitution convictions under the Mann Act should be thrown out because Mr. Combs lacked a financial motive and did not engage in sex he paid for.

The judge said it was enough that Mr. Combs transported escorts who were financially motivated, and intended for them to engage in prostitution.

He also said requiring Mr. Combs to have taken part in the sex “would narrow prostitution almost out of existence,” shielding even owners of brothels from prosecution.

Mr. Subramanian also said a conviction did not violate Mr. Combs’ First Amendment constitutional rights as “an amateur pornographer and consumer of pornography,” and that conduct did not become legal just because he filmed the sex performances.

While agreeing with Mr. Combs that the Mann Act has evolved since its 1910 passage, Mr. Combs’ conduct “sits at the heartland of the Act’s legitimate proscriptions. Unsurprisingly then, his conviction raises no constitutional problem.” — Reuters

BROADWAY ACTORS are preparing to walk off the stage in a strike that would shut down 32 stage productions as theater attendance approaches its peak season, according to their union.

Actors’ Equity, a union that represents 900 current Broadway performers and stage managers, said it has yet to reach agreement on a new labor contract with the Broadway League, the trade association that represents theater owners, producers and operators. Negotiations continue, though the three-year contract ended on Sept. 28.

A central issue in bargaining is healthcare and the contribution the Broadway League makes to the union’s health care fund.

Al Vincent, Jr., executive director and lead negotiator for Actors’ Equity, said the union is asking Broadway’s employers to increase their contribution to the health care fund, which is projected to fall into a deficit by next May.

The rate of contributions has been unchanged for more than a decade, even as smaller regional theaters in Kansas and Idaho oftentimes pay more, Mr. Vincent said.

“Asking our employers to care for our bodies, and to pay their fair share toward our health insurance is not only reasonable and necessary, it’s an investment they should want to make toward the long-term success of their businesses,” Actors’ Equity President Brooke Shields said in a statement to Reuters, adding that she tore her meniscus on a Broadway show and continued dancing on it, “painfully,” for three months.

“That’s just math. There are no Broadway shows without healthy Broadway actors and stage managers. And there are no healthy actors and stage managers without safe workplaces and stable health insurance.”

The Broadway League issued a statement saying it continues to work toward an agreement.

“We all want to sustain the magic of Broadway for our audience,” the Broadway League said in its statement to Reuters. “We are continuing good-faith negotiations with Actors Equity to reach a fair agreement that works for Broadway shows, casts, crews and the millions of people from around the world who come to experience Broadway.”

Other sectors of the entertainment industry have been roiled by labor unrest, with Hollywood actors and writers striking in 2023, as they fought for better compensation in the streaming TV era and curbs on the use of artificial intelligence. Video game actors staged a nearly year-long walkout as they sought protections against the use of artificial intelligence.

Stage actors have already authorized the bargaining committee to call a strike. On Friday, the union began delivering “strike pledge cards” to the stage door, asking performers and stage managers to commit to a walkout.

Kaylin Seckel, an ensemble cast member of Disney’s The Lion King and understudy to Nala and Sarabi, said she ruptured her Achilles tendon during a 2022 performance and had to be carried off-stage by her scene partner. She underwent surgery to repair the injury, and lengthy physical therapy to help her return to the stage. Although workers’ compensation covered many of her medical expenses, she relied on her union’s health care to pay for acupuncture and other treatments.

“That was three years ago, and I require, to this day, other procedures and more physical therapy that I was denied under workers’ comp,” said Ms. Seckel. “So for performers and stage managers in this industry, where your jobs are dangerous, … without really good health insurance, it’s difficult for us to do our jobs.”

The last major Actors Equity strike was in 1968, when a three-day dispute closed 19 Broadway shows. The New York City mayor intervened, and helped both sides come to an agreement. — Reuters

A FEDERAL JUDGE again threw out a lawsuit by a man who accused iconic grunge rock band Nirvana of distributing child pornography by using a photograph of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of its breakthrough 1991 album Nevermind.

US District Judge Fernando Olguin tossed out the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden for a second time after finding that no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.

“Other than the fact that plaintiff was nude on the album cover,” nothing “comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute,” Mr. Olguin said.

Attorneys for Mr. Elden did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler said they were “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations.”

The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, and photographer Kirk Weddle.

The lawsuit stemmed from Nirvana’s use of a photo taken by Mr. Weddle at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California that depicted Mr. Elden swimming naked toward a dollar bill on a fishhook. Mr. Elden, now 34, first sued the band and its label Universal Music Group in 2021, accusing them of sexually exploiting him through his depiction on the cover and causing him continuing personal harm.

Mr. Olguin dismissed the case in 2022 after finding Mr. Elden’s claims were time-barred without addressing the substance of his allegations. The 9^th Circuit reversed that decision in 2023.

Mr. Olguin determined on Tuesday that the image could not be considered child pornography, comparing it instead to a “family photo of a nude child bathing.” — Reuters