It looks like Sean “Diddy” Combs won’t be handing over millions to a contentious Michigan inmate who sued him for sexual assault — anytime soon.
The disgraced music and media mogul, whose alleged history of sexual assault came to light last year, filed a motion Thursday to vacate a Lenawee County judge’s order that he pay accuser Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith $100 million in a default settlement. The order was issued Monday after the rapper failed to appear in court and requires Combs to pay $10 million a month starting in October.
Combs’ attorneys argued in the 83-page motion, obtained by The Times, that the Bad Boy Records founder “was not served with the summons and complaint,” which Cardello-Smith had filed in June. Combs’ representatives also say he “is not (and has never been) required to respond to the complaint.”
Cardello-Smith, 51, is currently serving time at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility for numerous sex crimes, according to a Michigan inmate database. He sued Combs, 54, alleging the mogul drugged and sexually assaulted him during a June 1997 meeting at a Holiday Inn in Michigan, according to the suit.
Cardello-Smith, who says he was working as a bartender at a restaurant at the time, accused Combs of touching him on the left buttock and offering him a drugged drink. After accepting the drink, Cardello-Smith passed out. He claimed that when he came to, he saw Combs having sex with a woman. The rapper reportedly told him, “I did this to you, too,” Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit says.
In the motion, Combs’ attorney dismissed Cardello-Smith’s allegations as “objectively incredible” and added that the complaint provides a “narrative that is impossible to follow.”
The latest filing questions the timing and manner in which Cardello-Smith notified Combs, saying the three-time Grammy winner learned of the lawsuit only after news of the $100 million judgment broke this week.
In response to this week's order, Combs' attorney, Marc Agnifilo, highlighted Cardello-Smith's criminal history and litigious tendencies in a statement shared Tuesday.
“This man is a convicted felon and sexual predator who has been sentenced on 14 counts of sexual assault and kidnapping over the past 26 years,” Agnifilo said. “His resume now includes committing fraud on the court from prison, as Mr. Combs has never heard of him, much less been served with a lawsuit. Mr. Combs hopes this sentence will be quickly dismissed.”
Cardello-Smith is “a self-taught student of civil and criminal law” and “known for his long history of challenging the judicial system with civil lawsuits,” the Detroit Metro Times reported. From 2020 to 2024, Cardello-Smith has been a plaintiff in more than 30 civil lawsuits, some involving prisoners’ rights, according to legal documents.
Before suing Combs, Cardello-Smith had been sentenced three times in Minnesota criminal court, each time after reaching a plea agreement or pleading guilty. The charges against him range from third-degree criminal sexual conduct to kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct during the commission of a felony. His most recent sentence, imposed in May 2019, calls for a sentence of 17 1/2 to 35 years.
Five of the crimes occurred in September and October 1997, the same year as the alleged incident with Combs. The inmate database indicates that Cardello-Smith will be released no earlier than July 2036 and no later than May 2086, when he would be 113 years old.
A representative for Combs did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Friday. The Times was unable to reach Cardello-Smith, who filed her case against Combs without an attorney.
Combs' legal team also filed a motion to vacate a temporary restraining order Cardello-Smith requested in August against the embattled businessman. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Monday.
Amid the Michigan case, Combs faced even more legal retaliation this week when Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard sued him for sexual assault. Her suit also accuses Combs of harassment and inhumane treatment. Singer and ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones have also taken Combs to court in the past year.
