Sean 'Diddy' Combs seeks release from jail on $50 million bond ahead of October sentencing

Sean "Diddy" Combs wants a Manhattan federal judge to release him from jail on a $50 million bond ahead of his sentencing for transporting prostitutes across state and international lines, according to a new filing.

Lawyers for the hip-hop entrepreneur argue the charges and conviction under the Mann Act create a "unique" and "exceptional" circumstance that would qualify him for release before District Court Judge Arun Subramanian hands down his punishment on Oct. 3.

A Manhattan federal jury acquitted Combs on July 2 of one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, after federal prosecutors accused him of carrying on a two-decades-long scheme of using his global business empire to fund and stage dayslong drug-fueled sex marathons with two long-term girlfriends and a stream of male escorts.

However, Combs was convicted on the two lesser charges of flying the men across the country and to Europe and the Caribbean for the sex binges.

The verdict was a major blow to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, seen as the premier prosecutor’s office in the U.S. Department of Justice.

The day of the verdict, defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro argued Combs should be released pending his sentencing because of extraordinary circumstances, citing his need to parent his grown children and to be with his aging mother. He was denied.

In setting bail, a federal judge must consider two issues regarding the defendant: danger to the community and the risk of flight from the jurisdiction.

In July, Subramanian agreed with prosecutors that Combs should remain jailed pending his sentencing because defense attorneys admitted he had been violent toward his girlfriends.

On Tuesday, however, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo came back to the judge, asking him to reconsider releasing Combs before the October punishment date based on a reinterpretation of what courts have deemed "extraordinary circumstances."

The attorney attacked the prosecution of his client, who has already served 11 months behind bars, on the Mann Act — passed in 1910 — which he said has a "history rich with both racism and misogyny."

"Attitudes about sex and morality have come a long way in the last 115 years," Agnifilo wrote in his brief, pointing out the law aimed to protect "the morals and decency of America’s women" at a time when they didn’t have the right to vote.

The defense lawyer also pointed out the rare enforcement of the law in Combs’ case.

"Sean Combs should not be in jail," Agnifilo wrote in his bail application. "In fact, he may be he only person currently in a United States jail for being any sort of john, certainly the only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriends, when he did not even have sex with the escort himself."

During the trial, it was established the male escorts would have sex with his girlfriends while he watched, sometimes wearing a veil and recording on his phone.

Agnifilo also pointed out the Justice Department, since 1953, has rarely charged the Mann Act against people who did not gain financially from transporting prostitutes across state lines.

The only other case Agnifilo said he could find involved Western New York retired Supreme Court judge Ronald Tills, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to the Mann Act after he was caught procuring prostitutes for a fraternal group called the Royal Order of the Jesters. Tills was allowed to remain free on his own recognizance until he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Prosecutors have until July 31 to respond to the application.