Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs files to vacate $100-million default settlement to Michigan inmate

It seems Sean “Diddy” Combs won’t be handing millions over to a litigious Michigan inmate, who sued him for sexual assault, just yet.
The disgraced music and media mogul, whose alleged history of sexual assault has come to light within the past year, filed a motion Thursday to vacate a Lenawee County judge’s order to pay accuser Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith $100 million in a default settlement. The order was handed down Monday after the rapper failed to show in court and requires Combs to pay $10 million a month starting in October.
Attorneys for Combs alleged in the 83-page motion, obtained by The Times, that the Bad Boy Records founder “was not served with the Summons and Complaint,” which Cardello-Smith had filed in June. Combs’ reps also say he “has no (and never has had any) obligation to respond to the complaint.”
Cardello-Smith, 51, is currently serving time in the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility for numerous criminal sexual offenses, according to a Michigan inmate database. He sued Combs, 54, alleging that the mogul drugged and sexually assaulted him during a June 1997 gathering at a Holiday Inn in Michigan, according to the lawsuit.
Cardello-Smith, who says he was working as a restaurant bartender at the time, accused Combs of touching him on the left buttock and offering him a spiked drink. After he accepted the drink, Cardello-Smith passed out. He alleged that when he came to, he saw Combs having sex with a woman. The rapper reportedly said, “I did this to you too,” Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit says.
In the motion, Combs’ legal representative dismissed Cardello-Smith’s allegations as “objectively unbelievable,” adding the complaint provides a “narrative that is impossible to follow.”
The newest filing challenges the timeline and manner in which Cardello-Smith served Combs and states that the three-time Grammy winner became aware of the lawsuit only after news of the $100 million judgment spread this week.
In response to this week’s order, Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo underlined Cardello-Smith’s criminal history and his litigious tendencies in a statement shared Tuesday.
“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. Mr. Combs looks forward to having this judgment swiftly dismissed.”
Cardello-Smith is “a self-taught student of civil and criminal statutes” and “known for his long history of challenging the judicial system with civil lawsuits,” the Detroit Metro Times reported. From 2020 to 2024, Cardello-Smith has been a named plaintiff in more than 30 civil lawsuits, some concerning prisoner rights, according to legal documents.
Prior to suing Combs, Cardello-Smith had been sentenced three times in Minnesota criminal court, each time after entering a plea agreement or pleading no contest. Charges against him run from criminal sexual conduct in the third degree to kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree during commission of a felony. His most recent sentence, levied in May 2019, calls for a sentence of 17½ to 35 years.
Five of the offenses occurred in September and October 1997, the same year as the alleged incident with Combs. The inmate database says Cardello-Smith will be released in July 2036 at the earliest and, at the latest, in May 2086, when he would be 113 years old.
A representative for Combs did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Friday. The Times was unable to contact Cardello-Smith, who filed his case against Combs without an attorney.
Combs’ legal team also filed a motion to dissolve a temporary restraining order Cardello-Smith requested in August against the embattled entrepreneur. A hearing for the motion is set for Monday.
Amid the Michigan case, Combs faced even more legal backlash this week when Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard sued him for sexual assault. Her lawsuit also accuses Combs of harassment and inhumane treatment. Singer and ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones have also taken Combs to court in the past year.