A $400 million lawsuit filed by Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, a male prisoner who accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of s3xual assault, has been dismissed by a Michigan federal judge.
On Friday, the court judge dropped the case, which had garnered a lot of attention because actress and singer Jennifer Lopez was involved in the matter.
According to Cardello-Smith, Diddy assaulted him at a Detroit Holiday Inn in 1997. The statute of limitations, which only permitted such claims for three years at the time of the alleged incident, rendered the lawsuit unlawful. The complaint was brought in 2024, which was well past the window of opportunity for legal action.
Cardello-Smith wanted to have Jennifer Lopez testify as a witness to add more drama. According to him, Lopez’s romantic relationship with Diddy years after the incident gave her access to important information about his allegations. This sudden action added complexity to the case and helped the judge decide to dismiss it.
While dismissing the case, the judge rejected Diddy’s attempt to impose penalties on Cardello-Smith. Cardello-Smith was, however, given a severe warning by the judge to refrain from bringing pointless litigation in the future.
In a separate incident, Diddy’s lawyer said that supervisors from the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the rap mogul, ordered federal officials to examine his detention cell.
In a document that DailyMail.com was able to receive, they claimed that the search of his cell and the confiscation of his possessions, including “privileged notes,” were “illegal.”