Sean “Diddy” Combs just took another financial hit in court — but his legal team is pointing out that it could have been significantly worse.
A judge has ordered Diddy to pay $477,700.50 in attorneys’ fees to NBCUniversal after the company successfully defended itself against his lawsuit over the documentary “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.”
But NBCUniversal originally wanted considerably more.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the company sought $990,292 to cover its legal bill. The judge ultimately determined that a substantial portion of the requested fees was excessive and unreasonable, reducing the award by more than $512,000.
Diddy’s representative, Juda Engelmayer, tells TMZ the reduction is an important part of the story.
“Yes, Sean was ordered to pay approximately $478,000 in attorneys’ fees, but that is only half the story,” Engelmayer said, adding that the court rejected more than $512,000 of NBCUniversal’s request.
The judge reportedly found that the attorneys’ hourly rates were reasonable given their experience, but concluded that some of the billing itself went too far.
That means Diddy still has a nearly half-million-dollar legal bill to deal with — but NBCUniversal did not get the roughly $1 million it initially requested.
The dispute stems from Diddy’s lawsuit against NBCUniversal over the Peacock documentary. Diddy had sued the company in 2025, seeking $100 million over the project.
His representative also highlighted an unusual wrinkle in the fee fight: Engelmayer said the arguments challenging NBCUniversal’s legal bills were made by the same law firm that recently withdrew from representing Diddy amid its own billing dispute with him.
The latest ruling comes as Diddy remains behind bars following his federal criminal case. He was convicted in 2025 on two prostitution-related transportation counts but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Diddy is currently serving his sentence at Fort Dix and is scheduled for release in early 2028.
So while the judge’s order leaves Diddy with a $477,700.50 bill, his representatives can at least point to the other half of the ruling: more than half a million dollars of NBCUniversal’s requested fees were cut.
