“Derek Lee Cardello-Smith didn’t have the rape kit, which is part of Detroit’s sexual assault kit project,” a valuable spokesman told USA Today.
Defense strategy for Shaun “Diddy” comb in his sex crime trial
Legal experts are discussing the strategies Sean “Diddy” Comb’s defense attorney will use in federal sex crime trials.
The backlogged rape kit that brought sexual assault claims and $100 million default judgment against Sean “Diddy” comb is not true, USA Today confirmed. And when the rap mogul criminal trial unfolded in New York, his lawyer managed to abandon the civil award.
A civil lawsuit against Combs, who is on trial for criminal charges of failure, sex trafficking and transport to engage in prostitution, was filed in 1997 by a prisoner in a Michigan prison where Combs allegedly committed sexual assault.
Cardello-Smith claimed that Combs assaulted him in Detroit. There, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy was at the forefront of the national movement to clear the rape kit backlog. He claimed that when his kit was finally tested in 2024, the evidence of the DNA in it matches the comb.
However, a valuable person spokesperson confirmed only to USA Today that Cardello-Smith’s claims were false.
“Derek Lee Cardello-Smith didn’t have the rape kit, which is part of the Detroit sexual assault kit project,” Maria Miller told USA Today in an email. “We don’t know that SAK (sexual assault kit) has been tested in 2024, which is related to him.”
She overturned it days after Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Anna Marie Anzalon awarded a $100 million default ruling in a Michigan courtroom in September 2024.
The default judgment will be entered when someone does not respond to the lawsuit. However, Combs was not entrusted with the lawsuit, and according to court records he didn’t know it was filed until he read about the media’s ruling. Shortly afterwards, Combs, 55, held Fink Bressack, a Michigan law firm. However, the suit itself remained pending.
Combs’ attorneys moved the case from state court to federal court, and in January 2025, US District Judge Judith E. Levy dismissed it on bias.
Since then, Cardello-Smith has tried many times to keep the case alive. So far, he has failed.
Cassie’s civil lawsuit against Combs sparked an investigation
Cardello-Smith serves in prison for up to 75 years after being convicted of criminal sexual conduct and inducement. He filed a lawsuit against combs without a lawyer.
When the default sentence was handed out, Mark Agnifilo, one of Combs’s representative lawyers at his criminal trial, said Combs had never heard of Caldello Smith.
“This man is a convicted felon and sexual predator who has been sentenced to 14 counts of sexual assault and temptation over the past 26 years,” Agnifilo wrote in a statement to USA Today. “His reopening includes committing fraud from prison in court.”
The Cardello-Smith lawsuit, originally filed in June 2024, is one of dozens of civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and other misdeeds by Comb dating back to the 1990s.
One of them was filed in 2016 by his ex-girlfriend, Casandra Ventura Fine, who can be seen physically attacked by Combs on surveillance video at the Los Angeles hotel. Combs’ legal team said the first video released by CNN in 2024 had been changed. CNN denied the allegation.
Ventura Fine, best known for her stage name, Cathy, testified for four days at Combs’ criminal trial in the Southern District of New York.
Combs’ lawyers urged a criminal investigation into him, saying they believed in her case, which had settled for $20 million the day after it was filed.
Gina Burton is an investigative reporter for USA Today. She can be contacted at (262) 757-8640 or at gbarton@gannett.com. Follow her with x @WriterBarton Or at BlueSky @writerbarton.bsky.social.
