Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyers ask judge to overturn his conviction on prostitution-related charges ahead of his sentencing

Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs made a last-ditch effort on Thursday to try to persuade a Manhattan federal judge to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict for two prostitution-related charges.

The rap entrepreneur was convicted in July of violating the Mann Act — promoting travel for the purpose of prostitution — but cleared on more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Federal prosecutors charged that Combs tapped the resources of his liquor, music and fashion empire to carry out a 15-year scheme to coerce his girlfriends into having sex with male strippers during dayslong, drug-fueled orgies, which he dubbed "freak-offs." He would watch and often film the episodes on his phone, according to testimony.

Authorities said the music mogul used violence, intimidation and money to keep the women participating after they said they wanted to stop.

During the eight-week trial, escorts, former girlfriends and personal assistants testified Combs flew the male participants around the country and internationally to take part in the freak-offs, a violation of the Mann Act.

Defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro called the law "racist and sexist in its origins."

"The whole history of the statute is — respectfully — an embarrassment to America," she said at the end of the two-hour hearing Thursday.

The Mann Act, once known as the White Slave Traffic Act, has been used against pimps to enforce "morality standards" by the government, Shapiro said, and does not apply to Combs' behavior because he had no financial interest in performing the freak-offs.

Because Combs often took videos of the sex binges, Shapiro argued the behavior is protected under the First Amendment.

Shapiro cited case law involving peep shows, which she called "commercial voyeurism," in which prior courts have ruled that paying to watch other people have sex does not equate to prostitution.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian pushed back on that assertion, asking hypothetically if it would be prostitution if a businessman paid for a prospective client to patronize a brothel.

"He was a producer of amateur porn, but he was also a consumer of amateur porn," Shapiro told the court. She referred to trial testimony that showed the freak-offs were high-level, choreographed productions often involving mood lighting, music and costumes.

She said the law protects "the right to watch porn — not just filmed porn, but live porn."

Shapiro also pointed out Department of Justice policy against prosecuting prostitution-related cases in which the participant had no financial interest.

"What we’re talking about is consenting adults and there’s no government interest," she said.

Federal prosecutor Christy Slavik argued the government does have an interest in "discouraging violence against women, discouraging sexual assault and illegal drug use," all secondary effects of prostitution.

She noted Combs’ ex-girlfriends — Casandra Ventura, a former pop singer, and a woman who took the stand under the pseudonym Jane — both testified they had been physically assaulted and given drugs by the rap businessman.

Slavik also said it did not matter that Combs had not paid to have sex because he had violated the law when he organized and paid for the escorts to travel so they could have sex with his girlfriends. Additionally, she said it was immaterial that he recorded the sex acts.

"It doesn’t criminalize filming sex acts, it criminalizes prostitution," Slavik said. "The case was not that the defendant was an amateur porn producer."

She asked Subramanian to reject the motion to set aside the verdict. The judge said he would render his decision "very soon."

Combs is scheduled to be sentenced next Friday.

Defense attorneys have noted what they said was his exemplary 12-plus months behind bars in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and asked Subramanian to sentence him to no more than 14 months, meaning he would be out before the end of the year.

Each count of his conviction carries a 10-year sentence, but since this is Combs’ first conviction, it’s unlikely he would receive such a harsh prison term.

Federal prosecutors have previously estimated that under sentencing guidelines he could be exposed to as many as 5 years behind bars.