Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs hit with $100-million default judgment in inmate’s sexual assault suit
Sean “Diddy” Combs must pay $100 million to a litigious Michigan inmate who sued him for sexual assault, a judge ordered Monday.
Lenawee County circuit court Judge Anna Marie Anzalone decided that starting in October, Combs will have to pay $10 million a month for 10 months to accuser Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith. The order is part of a default settlement reached during Monday’s virtual hearing, from which the Bad Boy Records founder was absent.
Cardello-Smith, 51, is currently serving time in the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility for numerous criminal sexual offenses, according to a Michigan inmate database. In June he filed a civil suit alleging that Combs, 54, drugged and sexually assaulted him when he was working as a “restaurant and hospitality industry employee” during a Detroit party in 1997, according to Detroit Metro Times, which cites court documents.
Cardello-Smith reportedly accused Combs of touching him on his left buttock and allegedly offering him a spiked drink, according to TMZ. After he accepted the drink, Cardello-Smith passed out, TMZ said. He alleged that when he came to, he saw Combs having sex with a woman. The rapper reportedly said, per the lawsuit, “I did this to you too.”
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“This man is a convicted felon and sexual predator, who has been sentenced on 14 counts of sexual assault and kidnapping over the last 26 years,” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo said of Cardello-Smith in a statement to The Times. “His resume now includes committing a fraud on the court from prison, as Mr. Combs has never heard of him let alone been served with any lawsuit. Mr. Combs looks forward to having this judgment swiftly dismissed.”
There are questions about whether Cardello-Smith served Combs properly, or at all, in connection with this lawsuit.
The Times was unable to contact Cardello-Smith, who filed his case against Diddy without an attorney.
Cardello-Smith is “a self-taught student of civil and criminal statutes” and is also “known for his long history of challenging the judicial system with civil lawsuits,” Detroit Metro Times reported. From 2020 to 2024, Cardello-Smith has been a named plaintiff in more than 30 civil lawsuits, some concerning prisoner rights, according to legal documents.
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Prior to filing this lawsuit, Cardello-Smith had been sentenced three times in Minnesota criminal court, each time after entering a plea agreement or pleading no contest. Charges against him run from criminal sexual conduct in the third degree to kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree during commission of a felony. His most recent sentence, levied in May 2019, calls for a sentence of 17½ to 35 years.
Five of the offenses occurred in September and October 1997, the same year as the alleged incident with Combs. The inmate database says Cardello-Smith will be released in July 2036 at the earliest and, at the latest, May 2086, when he would be 113 years old.
Earlier this week, Combs’ Los Angeles mansion — which was subject to a raid by Homeland Security in March — was listed for sale with a $61-million price tag, Page Six reported. The estate hits the market a decade after Combs purchased it for $40 million, and after many legal woes.
Combs has shied away from the public eye after claims of sexual assault, sex trafficking and other allegations surfaced starting late last year. Singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones and former model Crystal McKinney are among a handful of accusers who have lodged civil complaints against the rapper.
Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.
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