A judge has ordered Sean Combs to pay NBCUniversal nearly $500,000 in attorneys’ fees, closing out the financial fallout from a defamation lawsuit the music mogul filed and then lost over a Peacock documentary. The Sean Combs lawsuit targeted a film that linked him to the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Kim Porter, claims his legal team called defamatory.
Judge Phaedra F. Perry-Bond signed the order on Tuesday, Oct. 6, directing Combs to pay NBCUniversal $478,000 in legal costs, according to TMZ. Page Six reported the exact figure as $477,700.50, citing the same judgment.
What Happened In The Sean Combs Lawsuit
Combs sued NBCUniversal in early 2025 for $100 million, according to Billboard. The suit centered on the Peacock documentary “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy,” which Combs alleged advanced false claims tying him to the deaths of Biggie and Porter.
Judge Perry-Bond dismissed the defamation case in April 2026, applying New York’s anti-SLAPP statute. That law lets defendants recover legal fees after beating back lawsuits a court finds meritless and aimed at speech protected under the First Amendment, according to Page Six.
With the case dismissed, NBCUniversal’s law firm, Gibson Dunn, sought reimbursement for its defense costs. The firm initially billed $990,000 in attorneys’ fees tied to the case.
Judge Perry-Bond cut that total nearly in half. She found $512,000 of the requested fees excessive, pointing specifically to $269,000 billed for drafting a single motion and $78,000 for internal office discussions among the firm’s attorneys, according to Page Six and TMZ. The remaining $478,000 stands as the amount Combs now owes.
Responses From Both Sides
NBCUniversal’s documentary defended its reporting by noting that Combs denied the claims and that interview subjects who raised the theories, including musician Al B. Sure!, carried their own biases against him. That reasoning echoed Judge Perry-Bond’s April ruling, which found NBC followed proper journalistic standards by making clear Combs denies the claims and that interview subjects who raised the theories, including musician Al B. Sure!, had their own biases against him, according to Billboard.
Combs’ representative, Juda Engelmayer, framed the ruling as a partial win despite the payment order. “NBCUniversal sought nearly $1 million in attorneys’ fees, and the court found substantial portions of those fees excessive and unreasonable, cutting their request by more than half,” Engelmayer said.
Engelmayer also pointed out an irony in how the fee dispute played out. “Ironically, the arguments challenging those excessive legal bills were made by the same firm that recently withdrew from representing Sean amid its own billing dispute with him,” he told TMZ.
What The Ruling Means
The fee order closes out the financial side of a case Combs already lost on the merits back in April. It does not resolve whether he can revive his underlying claims against NBC. Combs had moved to appeal the dismissal, but his former law firm dropped the case in September 2026 amid its own billing dispute with him over unpaid fees. It remains unclear whether Combs plans to pursue that appeal with new counsel.
The NBC case is not Combs’ only active defamation fight. In a separate suit against NewsNation, a judge ruled in September 2026 that Combs can pursue discovery over broadcasts that suggested he laced baby oil with drugs to incapacitate alleged sexual assault victims.
Background And What’s Next
Combs is currently serving a prison sentence after a federal conviction tied to “freak-offs,” cross-country prostitution events prosecutors detailed at trial. He was acquitted of sex-trafficking and racketeering charges and is appealing his sentence, which his side has called unduly harsh. He remains scheduled for release in early 2028.
He also faces dozens of separate civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct, all of which he continues to deny. No date has been set for any further action on the NBC appeal.
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