US prison inmate who sued Diddy for $100m called out by Gold Coast podcaster Jack Laurence
It started with a letter to a convicted murderer. Now, an ex-Gold Coast radio jock is taking his award-winning podcast to the stage – and unveiling audio that “calls out” a Diddy criminal accuser.
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Gold Coast true crime podcaster Jack Laurence claims a Michigan prison inmate who made headlines worldwide after suing music mogul P. Diddy for $100 million lied to him.
Live on stage next month, Laurence will share audio of the moment he confronted the criminal, accusing him of being a “liar”.
The former radio host, who has spent years interviewing contract killers, those who have been wrongly convicted, and even people on death row for his award-winning podcast One Minute Remaining – Stories from the inmates, was deep into a phone interview with Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith when alarm bells started ringing.
“I knew he was lying … it was so in your face,” Laurence said.
Cardello-Smith, 51, accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a party 27 years ago.
He filed the complaints against the music mogul from behind bars, where Cardello-Smith is serving a prison sentence for unrelated convictions of sexual misconduct and kidnapping.
In September, he won a default award of $100 million when Combs failed to show up to the virtual hearing to contest the allegation.
Lawyers for Combs who denies the allegations have since filed an appeal.
Laurence, who receives calls from convicted murderers at all hours – in the early morning; while he’s out doing the groceries; when he’s about to go to bed, says he sometimes doesn’t buy the stories he is being fed – but he usually doesn’t see himself as judge, jury or executioner.
Never-before-heard audio to be unveiled
“There’s stories where I remain on the fence, and then there’s ones where I think you’re absolutely talking rubbish to me right now,” Laurence said.
“I’ve spoken to people before where I know they’re obviously lying to me – but at the end of the day, it could be true.
“When it comes to the American legal system, I’ve heard so many ridiculous things that there is always a possibility.”
But this time, Laurence claims he had no doubt.
“He (Cardello-Smith) was telling me his story and I catch him out in a lie,” Laurence claims.
“I decided – I’m just going to call him out.
“I just couldn’t believe how stupid he thought I was.”
For a podcast built on giving inmates a voice – this was a rare moment of judgement for Laurence, who for the first time in his podcasting career, confronted a guest mid-interview.
Laurence did not reveal what the claimed “lie” was. Instead, he will share the never-before-heard audio at his live debut at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in March.
“This is very different to what I normally do,” he said.
“He’s the first guy that I’ve actually physically called out.
“Some people listen to my show and think I’m too soft and should be going harder on these people, but I always say that’s not my job.
“I simply say; you tell me your story or what you say happens, and then we’ll let everyone listening be the judge.”
From radio to true crime success – building a global podcasting empire
Laurence never planned on interviewing inmates for a living.
After walking away from a 15-year-long radio career, his journey into true crime started with a single letter to a convicted murderer.
Originally, he was researching “the lottery curse” - the phenomenon where jackpot winners lose everything within a year - when he came across the case of Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore. Convicted of murdering lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare more than a decade ago, Moore has always maintained her innocence.
“I wrote her a letter asking if she’d be interested in talking to me about her story,” Laurence said. “She wrote me a letter back and said yes.”
That phone call changed everything.
During their conversations, Moore suggested Laurence speak to her “law clerk” — who, was “working on her appeal.”
“I said: ‘Absolutely, give me her number,’ thinking it would help me make sense of this crazy story. Then she told me: ‘Oh no, I can arrange it from here. She’s in prison with me.’”
The moment sparked the concept for the podcast.
“I suddenly got this light-bulb moment … why don’t I tell stories of people who are in prison – and let them tell their stories.”
That idea became One Minute Remaining, named after the recorded message that signals the end of an inmate’s phone time – a sound Laurence has heard hundreds of times from his Gold Coast home-studio.
“Moore, still behind bars, became Laurence’s “in-prison producer,” connecting Laurence with other inmates keen to share their stories.
Since launching in 2022, the podcast has exploded in popularity, with nearly seven million downloads across 193 countries. It won Indie Crime Podcast of the Year in 2023 and has preceded real-world legal breakthroughs.
Two inmates Laurence has interviewed — Evaristo Salas Jr. and Temujin Kensu — were later exonerated or had their cases re-examined. But not before losing a combined 60 years of their lives behind bars.
“When I looked into Evaristo’s case and the evidence, I just knew he was innocent,” Laurence said.
“And I was proven right.”
Giving inmates a voice
Evaristo Salas was imprisoned aged 16 for murder he did not commit and at age 42, he was exonerated.
“Every part of you is screaming. Because usually when someone is saying something about you that is not true, your first instinct is to defend yourself,” Salas told Laurence down a phone-line in prison in 2022.
“I couldn’t do that. I was scared because of where I was [a courtroom], and I knew that if I would have got up and started yelling, they would have tackled me or handcuffed me or sprayed me …
“I kind of had the sense to know, I had to just sit there and take it.”
Then there’s the case of Temujin Kensu (“Ninja Killer”), who was convicted of murder despite air-tight alibis.
The victim was shot and killed more than 740 kilometres away from where Temujin was the morning of the crime. He had nine alibi witnesses who could confirm his whereabouts, yet the prosecution relied on a “ridiculous theory”.
“The prosecution came up with a theory that he hired a plane – they had no evidence to back it up at all,” Laurence said.
Nearly 40 years later, his supporters are still fighting for his freedom
Podcasting, a different beast
A former radio host, Gold Coasters might recognise Laurence’s voice from his days as an announcer and anchor at 90.9 Sea FM and later 2Day FM in Sydney working alongside big names like Dave Hughes, Kate Langbroek, Carrie Bickmore, Tommy Little, and Hamish and Andy.
Laurence said commercial radio gave him the skills to transition seamlessly into podcasting.
“Podcasting was a no-brainer,” Laurence said.
“Having a radio background has very much helped … it taught me how to be a good audio storyteller,” he said.
But unlike radio, where the competition is cutthroat, Laurence has found the podcasting world to be more collaborative.
“In radio, it’s like crush, kill, destroy when it comes to the opposition, whereas in podcasting, “I don’t find that is the case – I find that podcasters are actually quite willing to share audience.”
But Laurence says podcasting is a different beast.
“When it comes to podcasts – there are so many podcasts out there – the battle is just trying to get people to find your show.”
One Minute Remaining will make it’s live-show debut at the Adelaide Fringe Festival on March 2.
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