A Michigan inmate has won a $100 million default judgment against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a sexual assault lawsuit, an eye-popping figure handed down after the rapper did not show up in court or file any formal response to the case.
The huge judgment, confirmed by Billboard from court records, was issued by a Michigan state judge in Lenawee County to Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith – one of numerous people to accuse the embattled rapper of sexual abuse over the past year.
The ruling is a so-called default judgment, a kind of legal award granted when an accused party doesn’t respond to a legal action. At a hearing last month, a judge said that Combs had been properly served with the lawsuit, and court records indicate that he never answered the claims.
In a statement to Billboard, Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo strongly denied that his client had ever been served with the lawsuit and said the rapper “looks forward to having this judgment swiftly dismissed.”
“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,” Agnifilo said. “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.”
If lawyers for the rapper now respond to the lawsuit, they could seek to overturn the default judgment and proceed to normal litigation, where Cardello-Smith would need to prove his allegations to a jury before securing a judgment.
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least seven civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including claims by ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that were later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. The hip-hop mogul is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Though the rapper has denied the legal allegations against him, he issued an apology in May over his conduct captured on the video of the Ventura attack: “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.”
According to Michigan inmate records, Cardello-Smith, 51, is serving multiple, decades-long sentences for a variety of crimes, including first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of kidnapping. The earliest he can be released from prison is 2036.
Cardello-Smith sued Combs in June, claiming the rapper had spiked his drink and sexually assaulted him at a party in 1997. At a court hearing last month, he told a judge that the rapper had personally visited him in prison after he filed the lawsuit and offered him $2.3 million to drop his case.
At that same hearing, the inmate alleged that Combs had told him that he would not appear in court or respond to the lawsuit, saying “You know how we get down.” Cardello-Smith told the judge that he responded by telling Combs “I disagree with how you get down” and rejecting the settlement offer.
The lawsuit against Combs is not the first civil action Cardello-Smith has filed from behind bars. Last year, he sued a Detroit-area Catholic archdiocese, alleging he had been sexually abused by a priest and others between 1979 and 1993. The case was dismissed last month by state appeals court, which ruled that Cardello-Smith’s allegations were barred by the statute of limitations.