Lenawee County judge awards inmate $100 million in lawsuit against Sean 'Diddy' Combs

ADRIAN — A Lenawee County judge has awarded $100 million to a Michigan inmate in his lawsuit against hip-hop star Sean "Diddy" Combs over an alleged sexual assault in 1997.

Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51, claims in his lawsuit that the alleged assault by Combs happened at a hotel in Adrian during a party with several others after he met Combs while working at a restaurant in Detroit's Greektown. Court filings indicate he lived in Adrian and Detroit at the time of the assault. He also claims that an agreement between himself, Combs, high-ranking Wayne County law enforcement officials, an Adrian police officer and others to cover up the alleged assault gives Cardello-Smith rights to 49% of all of Combs' business interests if Combs violates any part of the agreement by committing acts of sexual violence.

Combs faces several sexual misconduct allegations, including an accusation of rape that was settled out of court. Combs' home in Los Angeles was raided by federal officials in March.

Lenawee County Circuit Judge Anna Marie Anzalone granted Cardello-Smith a default judgment of $100 million on Monday after no one appeared to represent Combs. Cardello-Smith is representing himself. Court records show the lawsuit was served upon Combs in July by certified mail at a home in Los Angeles that is associated with Combs and is listed for sale for $61.5 million. Circuit court records do not show that any attorney has filed an appearance or an answer to the lawsuit on Combs' behalf.

In August, Anzalone issued a temporary restraining order on Combs to prevent him from selling any assets for 90 days. Cardello-Smith argued that he needed the order to prevent Combs from divesting himself of assets that could be used to pay any judgment against him. No one appeared for Combs at that hearing, either.

"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," Diddy's attorney Marc Agnifilo wrote in a statement to USA TODAY Tuesday. "His resume now includes committing a (sic) 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."

Cardello-Smith was sentenced in 2008 to up to 75 years in prison on first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping charges after he pleaded no contest to the charges in Wayne County, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records. In 2019, he was sentenced to up to 35 years on four more first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges in Wayne County to which he also pleaded no contest. Those four newer charges were from offenses that took place in 1997. The original eight charges were committed in 2008. He also was convicted in 1998 of two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in 1998 in Wayne County for offenses that took place in 1997 and 1998. Those sentences ended in 2013. On the active charges, the earliest date he could be released from prison is in 2036.

Cardello-Smith claims the assault happened in June 1997 at a Holiday Inn hotel in Adrian, but there was no Holiday Inn in Adrian at that time. The original Holiday Inn on West Maumee Street, which is now the Adrian Inn, had been rebranded to the Adrian Inn in 1983 and operated under various motel brands until returning to the Adrian Inn name. It was a Days Inn in 1997, but some people still referred to it as a Holiday Inn. It has been owned by the city of Adrian since 2022, when it was acquired to provide temporary housing to residents of the Riverview Terrace Apartments.

The Holiday Inn Express on U.S. 223 near M-52 opened in June 1999.

In return for his silence, the hand-written document presented as an agreement between Combs, Cardello-Smith and others says Cardello-Smith would leave a $150,000 investment in Combs' hands for up to 30 years, that he would not seek civil litigation against Combs for 25-30 years, that he would agree to be charged with 14 rapes allegedly committed by Combs in Michigan and be sentenced to prison in order to protect his mother and other relatives from harm by Combs or people in law enforcement, and that a prosecutor would drop a murder investigation against Cardello-Smith. It also mentions land holdings and other investments by others that would be held by Combs with interest to be paid after 30 years. The purpose of the alleged agreement was so that "the artistic genius of Sean Combs will not be tainted or destroyed" and that Cardello-Smith's family would continue to live.

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The document has a signatures page at the end with the signatures placed haphazardly on the page. The Adrian officer who Cardello-Smith names retired from the department in 1997 and died this past August. When shown the signature, former Adrian Police Chief Terry Collins, who worked with the officer, said that was not the officer's signature and demonstrated how he would write the first letter of his last name. The signature that is supposed to be of a former Wayne County sheriff does not match a signature that was found online. The alleged signature of Combs also is different from signatures found online of his given name rather than his artistic names.

There are other inconsistencies in Cardello-Smith's court filings. While in the alleged agreement and a pretrial statement he says the assault took place in Adrian, in another filing he accuses Monroe police as being part of the alleged coverup. In a couple of other places he mentions the Lenawee County Sheriff's Office as also being involved.

Cardello-Smith also has sued Combs in Monroe County Circuit Court, according to online records. That suit was filed in June on the same date as the Lenawee County case. No hearings have been scheduled on the Monroe County case.

In his court filings, Cardello-Smith says he was "excited" to attend Combs' social gathering in Adrian. Combs seemed like a "really decent, normal guy" at the party, where Cardello-Smith, Combs and others consumed alcohol. He said Combs and two women went into the "main suite/room," and Combs motioned for him to join them. He did, but one of the guards outside the room warned him to watch out for Combs.

As they engaged in sexual activity, Cardello-Smith claims he felt a man's hand on his left buttock. He stopped and sat on a couch, then Combs offered him something to drink. He said he then became drowsy and started to pass out when Combs allegedly told him he had added something to the drink and that he would "get that from you anyway, one way or another."

Cardello-Smith claims he passed out, then when he came to he saw Combs engaged in anal sex with one of the women. When Combs saw Cardello-Smith was awake, he allegedly told him, "I did this to you too." Cardello-Smith said he went into a bathroom and found that he was bleeding and in pain, and he ran out.

In the hearing in August, Cardello-Smith told Anzalone that Combs visited him at Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights and offered to settle the case for $2.3 million. Cardello-Smith said he rejected that offer.

— Contact reporter David Panian at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County judge rules for inmate in lawsuit against Sean Combs