Prosecutors urge judge to deny Diddy's bid for new Mann Act trial

Federal prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday to quickly reject Sean "Diddy" Combs request to overturn or re-try his convictions on two prostitution-related counts, arguing the evidence supporting the jury verdict was overwhelming. Combs, the music executive and entertainer, was convicted in July of two violations of the Mann Act for transporting people across state lines for purposes related to prostitution. He remains detained in a Brooklyn federal jail and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3.

In court filings, prosecutors said Combs organized and directed repeated sexual events over many years for two former girlfriends, hiring male commercial sex workers and facilitating their travel across state lines to participate in so-called "freakoffs" and "hotel nights." "Evidence of the defendant's guilt on the Mann Act counts was overwhelming," prosecutors wrote, describing multiday, drug-fueled sexual encounters and the hiring and transport of escorts for pay. They said Combs recorded some encounters and used the recordings to coerce the women to continue participating.

Two women testified at trial under their own names and a pseudonym. Casandra "Cassie"...