Judge orders Sean “Diddy” Combs to pay man $100M in sexual assault case

DETROIT — A Michigan judge has ordered beleaguered hip-hop mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs to pay out a $100 million judgment to a man currently in prison who claimed Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him back in 1997.
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51, was awarded the amount by a Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge in a default judgment Monday after Combs failed to appear in court.
Court documents obtained by CBS Detroit show Cardello-Smith claimed the incident happened while he was a bartender at a Detroit-area restaurant. He claims Combs invited him to an afterparty, where he claims he was urged to engage in sexual activity with multiple women.
Cardello-Smith then claimed that he passed out after drinking a glass of alcohol handed to him by Combs. The court document says Cardello-Smith claimed he later woke up to see Combs having sex with a woman, and telling Cardello-Smith, “I did this to you too.”
Cardello-Smith is currently incarcerated, and his criminal record includes a number of convictions for criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, which Combs’ lawyers mentioned when responding to the Monday judgment.
“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,” Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean Diddy Combs, told CBS News. “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. Mr. Combs looks forward to having this judgment swiftly dismissed.”
In recent months, Combs has faced lawsuits from multiple women accusing him of sexual assault and abuse, all of which Combs denies. A lawsuit from the R&B singer Cassie, alleging rape and physical abuse during their relationship, was also settled last year. In addition to Cardello-Smith’s claims, another man has also accused Combs of sexual misconduct, which his legal representative called “pure fiction.”
More recently, New York City Mayor Eric Adams requested Combs return the key to the city, which he was given in a Times Square ceremony in September 2023, coinciding with the release of the artist’s album “The Love Album: Off The Grid.”
Combs rose to fame in the late ’90s as a producer and performer behind such Billboard-charting hits as “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems,” “Bad Boy for Life” and “I’ll Be Missing You.”

Katie Houlis

contributed to this report.