Sean 'Diddy' Combs ordered to pay Michigan inmate $100M in sexual assault lawsuit
Here’s a justice-system twist.
A Michigan judge awarded an inmate convicted of a sex crime $100 million — $10 million a month starting next month for 10 months — in a sexual assault lawsuit the felon filed against rapper Sean Combs, known as Diddy, because the celebrity failed to show up in court or file a response to the case.
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith accused Diddy of touching him while they were having sex with women.
Combs — who is facing several sexual misconduct allegations, including an accusation of rape which was settled out of court, and appears to be the target of a federal investigation — failed to appear in court earlier this week, leading a Lenawee County Circuit Court judge to order the default judgment.
Cardello-Smith, who is serving prison time in Muskegon Heights until at least 2036 for first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping in unrelated cases, accused Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a 1997 party, and then offered $2.3 million to drop the lawsuit, according to news reports.
It’s unclear whether the order will stand, but the judgment adds to Combs' growing legal and financial woes and puts him, once again, in the national spotlight. The defeat, even if it is only temporary, and publicity could spur even more lawsuits and scrutiny.
Combs, who also has gone by stage names Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once a powerful entertainer, record producer, record executive, and even had a fashion label, is enmeshed in several lawsuits and is under federal investigation but has not been charged.
In March, the Department of Homeland Security raided homes.
Combs, at one point, was so popular that in 2021, he wrote an open letter challenging General Motors to do better in terms of economic inclusion, urging the Detroit automaker to distribute their advertising spending to include more Black-owned media companies. Short of that, he hinted at a boycott.
But this week, Variety Magazine, which focuses on the entertainment industry, called the judgment Combs' "latest legal setback" and reported Cardello-Smith’s suit alleges the two met at a metro Detroit restaurant and then had sex with women they met "at a party."
More: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused by fourth Woman in new lawsuit of gang rape
According to a USA TODAY report, the party was held in a private room at a Detroit Holiday Inn and where Cardello-Smith felt Combs touch his butt. USA TODAY and the Detroit Free Press are owned by the same company.
After that, Combs offered Cardello-Smith a drink, which the inmate claimed in the lawsuit was spiked.
"I stayed sitting there and began getting drowsy and started to pass out," Cardello-Smith notes in the lawsuit in which he is representing himself, USA TODAY reported. "Then Sean Combs said to me 'I added a little something to it for you. I will get that from you anyway, one way or another.' "
Cardello-Smith added he woke up to find himself bleeding and in pain.
"I ran out and left and never went back," Cardello-Smith said in the lawsuit, claiming he filed a police report, and that the producer "paid Detroit and Monroe Police Officers to keep it hidden." The inmate claimed Diddy "shut down" because he "knew that I was never going to be able to tell anyone about this."
In response to the judgment, an attorney for Combs released a statement to several media outlets, including USA TODAY, that said Cardello-Smith, 51, is "a convicted felon and sexual predator" and accused him of "committing a fraud on the court from prison."
The lawyer also suggested that the judgment against Combs should be dismissed.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Diddy ordered to pay Michigan inmate $100M in sex lawsuit