Diddy Files Emergency Motion To Dismiss $100 Million Lawsuit

Diddy is trying to avoid paying $100 million to Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith. The disgraced mogul was recently ordered to pay the plaintiff over claims of sexual assault dating back to 1997. It looks as though he’s trying to find a legal workaround, however. TMZ reported that Diddy filed an emergency motion to get the Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit thrown, thereby nullifying the payment. The reasoning? He claims that he was never technically served the lawsuit by Cardello-Smith or his legal team.

Per TMZ, Diddy asserts that he was not aware of the lawsuit until media outlets reached out to him for comment. The mogul is also claiming that the statute of limitations has expired, since Cardello-Smith never served him in the first place. The outlet notes that Diddy’s motion would effectively kill two birds with one stone if effective. It would mean the Bad Boy founder doesn’t have to pay $100 million. It would also mean that he could deny all accusations made against him. For context, Cardello-Smith claims that Diddy spiked his drink at a party, and when he woke up, the latter joked about having had assaulted him.

This is not the first attempt that Diddy has made to discredit Cardello-Smith’s claims. The producer’s legal team pointed to Cardello-Smith’s criminal record and personal history as a means of discrediting his lawsuit. “The man who filed it is a convicted rapist,” Diddy’s legal team noted in a statement. “Who is lying about all of the allegations in the lawsuit.” It’s likely that Diddy is trying to get out of his financial obligation to Cardello-Smith before he’s required to make his first payment. According to the court, he will have to pay the convict $10 million a month starting in April.

Diddy has more legal problems around the corner. Dawn Richards, a former member of the girl group Danity Kane, sued the mogul for sexual assault and battery on September 10. The singer claimed that Diddy assaulted her, deprived her of sleep, and refused to pay her what she was owed. Furthermore, Richards asserts that she witnessed the Bad Boy founder assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie, in many instances.