Sean “Diddy” Combs may be facing the heat of a damning sex-trafficking indictment, but the disgraced music mogul also landed a legal win in Michigan. A Lenawee County circuit court judge decided Wednesday to set aside the default judgment that required the Bad Boy Records founder to pay $100 million to a Michigan inmate who sued Diddy over a sexual assault. Last week, Judge Anna Marie Anzalone had ordered Combs, 54, to pay accuser Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith $10 million a month starting in October after the mogul failed to show for a civil court hearing.
Attorneys for Combs filed an 83-page motion on Sept. 13 to vacate the judgment , alleging that Cardello-Smith, 51, did not properly serve Combs in accordance with Michigan law. The motion also claimed that the rapper had learned about the lawsuit only from reports about the large default settlement.
A legal representative for Combs did not comment to The Times on Wednesday. The Times was unable to contact Cardello-Smith, who filed his case against Combs without an attorney. This week, Combs’ defense alerted the court of alleged inconsistencies with Cardello-Smith’s proof of service, alleging he had altered documents necessary for the court to hand down the default judgment, The Times was told.
Cardello-Smith is serving time in the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility for numerous criminal sexual offenses. He sued Combs in June, alleging he was drugged and sexually assaulted by Diddy during a June 1997 gathering at a.