A man who accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting him in the ’90s has won his lawsuit.
Source: Billboard / Getty
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51, has been awarded a $100 million default judgment in his lawsuit against the disgraced music mogul.
Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Anna Marie Anzalone issued the award on Monday following a temporary restraining order being granted to Cardello-Smith in August. According to court records, Combs was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting the now-51-year-old in 1997 at a party in Detroit.
Cardello-Smith allegedly crossed paths with the rapper while he worked as a restaurant employee in the Detroit area. According to Detroit Metro Times, he is a self-taught student of civil and criminal statutes, and is serving an unrelated sentence at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights.
Prison facility information produced by Cardello-Smith revealed that Diddy’s name was logged into the prison’s visitation record, saying the Bad Boy founder offered him $2.3 million to dismiss the lawsuit, which he declined. In his August hearing, Cardello-Smith revealed to the court how his conversation with Combs went as they discussed the lawsuit.
Diddy allegedly responded, “You know how we get down” after Cardello-Smith’s threatened to proceed with the lawsuit instead of accepting an out-of-court settlement. He told the judge that he responded by saying, “I disagree with how you get down.”
As for Cardello-Smith’s whopping $100 million judgment, a default judgment is awarded to a plaintiff when the defendant in a civil suit fails to formally respond to legally filed proceedings. Combs did not make an appearance at the Sept. 9 virtual hearing, which led to the default judgement. His judgment could be the largest awarded to a non-attorney and a currently incarcerated inmate in history.
Marc Agnifilo, Combs’s attorney, provided a statement to Metro Times following the news of a default judgement, vehemently denying Cardello-Smith’s claims and even going as far as saying Diddy has never heard of him.
“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,” the statement reads. “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.”
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