Mann Act | United States [1910] | Britannica

High-profile cases

Thousands of people have been prosecuted under the Mann Act, including some celebrities. One of the first to garner national attention was the African American boxer Jack Johnson, who won the world heavyweight title in 1908. Johnson enjoyed a flamboyant lifestyle and had relationships with several white women, two of whom he married. In 1913 Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act for transporting a white woman—his wife-to-be, Lucille Cameron—across state lines for “immoral purposes.” He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison but fled to Canada and then to Europe while free on appeal; he remained a fugitive for seven years. Johnson surrendered to U.S. marshals in 1920 and served his sentence. He received a posthumous pardon from Pres. Donald Trump in 2018.

The architect Frank Lloyd Wright was charged with violating the Mann Act in 1926 for having taken his girlfriend and future wife, Olgivanna Hinzenburg, across state lines while still legally married to his second wife, Miriam Noel. Of the charge, Wright told journalists, “Legally, I am wrong, but morally I am right, just as right as Jesus Christ ever was.” U.S. District Attorney Lafayette French, Jr., ultimately decided not to prosecute Wright, citing insufficient evidence. Wright married Hinzenburg in 1928.

The actor Charlie Chaplin was prosecuted in 1943 in a case that stemmed from a paternity suit involving aspiring actress Joan Barry. Chaplin was eventually cleared of the charge of transporting a woman for immoral purposes.

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The Mann Act was also used to prosecute the singer and guitarist Chuck Berry, who in 1959 was charged with transporting an underage girl across state lines for immoral purposes. Berry, who had met the girl in a bar in Juarez, Mexico, contended that he had brought her to the United States for a legitimate job in his St. Louis nightclub. In 1960 a jury found Berry guilty of violating the Mann Act, and he was sentenced to five years in prison and given a $5,000 fine. Racist comments by the trial judge resulted in a second trial in 1961, at which Berry was again convicted. He served 20 months in prison.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was found in 2008 to have had liaisons with prostitutes working for a New York City escort service. Four employees of the escort service were charged with violating the Mann Act, but prosecutors ultimately decided not to prosecute Spitzer. He resigned as governor in March 2008.

Quick Facts Also called: White-Slave Traffic Act (Show more) Date: 1910 (Show more) Location: United States (Show more) See all related content

In 2025 the rapper and record producer Sean Combs was convicted under the Mann Act on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was later sentenced to 50 months in prison and fined $500,000.