Janice Combs walked away from a $33 million racketeering lawsuit on Tuesday (September 19) after a federal judge tossed the case, handing the 85-year-old mother of Sean “Diddy” Combs a rare courtroom win as her son remains locked up awaiting sentencing.
The lawsuit, filed by Deon Best, known as D1, accused Combs of fraud, forgery and hiding documents to steal publishing rights to the 1998 track “Come With Me” from the Godzilla movie soundtrack.
However, the court ruled the claims were both too old and too vague to move forward, stating Best would “take nothing” and that Combs and her companies could recover legal costs.
The judge found the allegations missed the four-year statute of limitations and lacked specific details about when or how the alleged misconduct occurred.
Best claimed he only became aware of the alleged wrongdoing in 2023 and sought tens of millions in damages. He argued Combs used her influence within her son’s business empire to quietly take control of the song’s royalties.
The decision ends months of legal back-and-forth that painted Combs as a behind-the-scenes operator in her son’s financial dealings. But the court didn’t buy it.
Meanwhile, Diddy faces his own legal storm. The 54-year-old Hip-Hop mogul was convicted in July 2025 on prostitution-related charges but was acquitted of more serious racketeering and sex trafficking counts.
He’s been in federal custody for over a year and is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Janice Combs Speak Up For Son Diddy Ahead Of Sentencing
Another lawsuit is still pending. Kirk Burrowes, Diddy’s former business partner, has accused Combs of helping push him out of Bad Boy Entertainment using “intimidation, violence, fraudulent misrepresentation, and financial concealment.”
Despite the mounting legal issues, Combs has remained vocal in her support of her son. In October 2024, she released a statement through her attorney calling the accusations against Diddy a “narrative created out of lies” and labeling the public scrutiny a “public lynching.”
She defended him again after hotel surveillance footage surfaced showing Diddy assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie, saying he was “not the monster they have painted him to be.”
As Diddy’s legal team pushes for a reduced 14-month sentence, nearly 70 letters have been submitted to the court, including one from his mother. In her letter, Combs acknowledged her son had “made some terrible mistakes” but pleaded for leniency so she could spend her remaining years with him.