American music producer Sean Combs has been ordered by a judge to pay nearly $500,000 in legal fees to NBCUniversal after the media network successfully defended itself against his defamation lawsuit over a documentary about his life.
According to court documents obtained by entertainment news outlet TMZ, the judge ordered Combs to pay $477,700.50 to cover legal expenses incurred by NBCUniversal during the legal dispute over the documentary titled Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.
NBCUniversal had initially requested $990,292 to cover its legal costs. However, the presiding judge reduced the final figure, ruling that portions of the billing were excessive, even though the hourly rates charged by the attorneys were found to be reasonable based on their professional experience.
Dispute over legal billing
A representative for Combs, Juda Engelmayer, stated to TMZ that the ruling represented only half of the story. Engelmayer pointed out that the court removed more than $512,000 from the original claim made by NBCUniversal, noting that the judge deemed significant portions of the invoice to be excessive and unjustified.
Engelmayer added that the arguments used against NBCUniversal's excessive legal charges were ironically drafted by the same law firm that recently stopped representing Combs over a separate dispute regarding unpaid fees.
That firm, Sher Tremonte, had previously represented Combs in a separate $50 million defamation lawsuit filed in January 2025 against several defendants, including news outlet NewsNation, regarding allegations involving sex tapes.
Law firm withdrawal and lawsuit claims
Lawyers filed a motion to withdraw from representing Combs in September. Michael Tremonte, a partner at Sher Tremonte, stated in court filings obtained by Page Six that Combs had failed to pay a substantial balance of legal fees, expenses, and costs, leaving him significantly delinquent on his account.
The fee order stems from a $100 million defamation lawsuit that Combs filed in February 2025 against NBCUniversal and production company Ample. In that filing, Combs alleged that the documentary Making of a Bad Boy had caused him severe financial harm and serious damage to his reputation.
In the legal filing, lawyers for Combs stated that the documentary falsely presented allegations that he had committed numerous severe crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, while attempting to offer a crude psychological evaluation of him.
The lawsuit further claimed that the documentary maliciously and without foundation concluded that Combs was a monster and the embodiment of Lucifer, comparing him directly to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
