Sean "Diddy" Combs is arguing that one of the charges he faces — the Mann Act — has been misused to specifically target Black men, while a White man engaging in the same conduct would have been left alone.

Per CNN, the disgraced music mogul says in a new motion his attorneys filed that the court should dismiss Count Three of the Superseding Indictment, which refers to the Mann Act. The law initially called the White-Slave Traffic Act, was passed in 1910 and makes it a crime to transport a person across state lines for prostitution or any unlawful sexual act.

Prosecutors recently expanded the case against the music mogul by adding two more women to his list of alleged victims.

The 42-year-old Combs, holed up in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on sex trafficking charges, says he's been targeted unfairly. In their motion, his attorneys assert that "Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is a powerful Black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished."

Defense Alludes to the History of the Mann Act

Now, Diddy's lawyers reference the racially dubious history of the Mann Act and say that the act has become an excuse to prosecute Black men in the name of White women.

The defense also noted that the law "has a long and troubling history as a statute with racist origins," and that it continues to be enforced in a manner that leads to to being racially disproportionate.

The motion also claims that employing escorts constitutes appropriate American culture today and is "often the subject of pop culture and television."

The doc further contends that no White men have been prosecuted under the Mann Act for hiring prostitutes from outside the state and asserts that the case against Diddy is about race.

The rapper's lawyers further claim that the government has engaged in prejudicial tactics by leaking information to the press that could influence potential jurors. The government's animus and bias were evidenced in the handling of this case.

"The government's handling of this case demonstrates bias and animus. It has gone out of its way to humiliate Mr. Combs and to prejudice the jury pool with pretrial publicity that plays on racist tropes," the letter said, as quoted by The Mirror.

They also say the case is the first of its kind in that "no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution."

All charges were entered as not guilty by Diddy, who denies wrongdoing. His attorneys, meanwhile, continue to argue that he is being targeted for "persecution" because of his celebrity status and race.

Originally published on Music Times

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Diddy, Sean Combs