A man named Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith has won a $100 million judgment in a civil lawsuit accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault after the rapper and businessman did not contest the allegations in a Michigan courthouse.
Combs’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, denied that his client knows Cardello-Smith and called the case a “fraud on the court,” adding that Combs is eager to have the judgment overturned.
Cardello-Smith, 51, claimed that he encountered Combs while working in the restaurant and hospitality industry near Detroit.
He filed the lawsuit, alleging that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him at a party in Detroit in 1997. This accusation was part of a broader pattern of alleged sexual misconduct by Combs, who has also been known by the names P Diddy, Puff Daddy, and Love.
The Detroit Metro Times reported that Cardello-Smith, who is currently incarcerated, provided evidence of Combs’s name appearing in a prison visitation log.
During a virtual court hearing on August 7, Cardello-Smith testified that Combs offered him $2.3 million to drop the lawsuit so that Combs could finalize a property sale.
Cardello-Smith claimed that during their interaction, Combs, 54, told him he would not acknowledge the accusations in court, reportedly saying, “You know how we get down.”
Cardello-Smith said he responded, “Well, I disagree with how you get down,” and refused the settlement offer.
Following this, Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Anna Marie Anzalone issued an order barring Combs from selling assets that could be used to cover potential damages.
When Combs did not attend a virtual hearing in the case on Monday, the judge granted Cardello-Smith a default judgment of $100 million.
A default judgment occurs when a defendant fails to respond to a legal case.
Court records indicate that Cardello-Smith is serving time at the Earnest C Brooks Correctional Facility after multiple convictions for criminal sexual misconduct and one for kidnapping.
He has spent his time in prison learning criminal and civil law, developing a reputation for filing numerous lawsuits challenging the judicial system.
Combs is not the only prominent figure named in a lawsuit by Cardello-Smith. In another case, he has sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, alleging that two priests and one lay employee sexually abused him between 1979, when he was around seven years old, and 1993.
It is unclear how Cardello-Smith will collect the $100 million judgment, although he claimed to have a long-standing connection with Combs.
In his statement on Tuesday, Agnifilo called Cardello-Smith “a convicted felon and sexual predator” and dismissed the case as fraudulent.
He stated, “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.”
Combs has faced multiple lawsuits over the years, including allegations of rape, sexual assault, physical violence, and the distribution of “revenge porn.”
Although he initially denied the allegations, in May, information obtained and released hotel security footage showing Combs physically assaulting singer Cassie Ventura, his girlfriend at the time, in 2016.
Ventura had sued Combs months earlier, alleging rape and physical abuse during their relationship, which had since ended. Combs quickly settled the lawsuit with Ventura for an undisclosed sum after it was filed.
The release of the video contradicted Combs’s prior denials, and two days later, he issued a public video apology.
Additionally, in March, federal authorities raided Combs’s Los Angeles and Miami properties as part of a sex-trafficking investigation.
While no criminal charges have been filed against him, multiple media outlets reported that Combs had listed his Los Angeles home, which had been raided, for sale with an asking price of $61.5 million.
