Diddy loses $100 million in sexual assault damages to imprisoned plaintiff

Over the past year, Sean “Diddy” Combs has faced a barrage of sexual misconduct lawsuits, and now he has been ordered to pay $100 million to Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, a currently incarcerated man who claims Diddy drugged and sexually assaulted him in 1997. Detroit Metro Times reports that Diddy did not formally respond to Cardello-Smith's lawsuit, prompting Lenawee County District Court Judge Anna Marie Anzalone to award the plaintiff a default judgment of $100 million, the amount Cardello-Smith had sought in his lawsuit. This may be the largest default judgment ever awarded to a non-lawyer and currently incarcerated person.

Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, who is currently serving an unrelated sentence in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, claims he met Diddy in the '90s while working as a restaurant and hospitality worker in Detroit. According to TMZ, Cardello-Smith's lawsuit claims he and Diddy were drinking and smoking marijuana together in 1997 and got into a sexual situation with some women. Cardello-Smith claims he felt Diddy's hand on his butt and then passed out after accepting a drink from Diddy that he thought was mixed. When Cardello-Smith woke up, he claims, he saw Diddy having sex with a woman and Diddy told him, “I did that to you too.”

In conversation with the Metro timesCardello-Smith shows that Diddy's name is listed in the prison's visitation records. At an August hearing, Cardello-Smith testified that Diddy offered him $2.3 million if he dropped the lawsuit, and he turned down the offer. In its report, TMZ includes a statement from Diddy's attorney, Marc Agnifilo:

This man [Cardello-Smith] is a convicted felon and sex offender who has been convicted of 14 counts of sexual assault and kidnapping over the past 26 years. His resume now includes defrauding the court from prison, as Mr. Combs has never heard of him, let alone had a lawsuit filed against him. Mr. Combs hopes to have this conviction overturned quickly.

Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith is said to have taught himself criminal and civil law while incarcerated, and he has also filed sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. In her ruling against Diddy, Judge Anzalone did not rule on whether the alleged 1997 assault was within the statute of limitations. If that ruling is not overturned, Diddy will owe Cardello-Smith $10 million a month in payments.

If you or someone you know is being sexually assaulted, please visit rainn.org or call the National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673.