Book Publisher Suing P. Diddy For Failing To Deliver Autobiography

A book publishing company is suing Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, alleging that he "simply kept" a $300,000 advance it paid for his memoirs, which were never completed.

In papers filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court and obtained by The

Sign up for our daily Music & Pop Culture News alert! E-Mail this story to a friend Add RSS Headlines Add VH1 News to My Yahoo Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon Furl Newsvine

Associated Press, Random House Inc. said that Combs and Bad Boy Inc. "never rightfully earned" the advance, and is seeking the return of the money, plus interest.

"Random House has seldom resorted to a legal course of action with its prospective authors ... but Mr. Combs has left us no choice," the publisher said in a statement. "He signed with our Ballantine imprint in 1998 to write his autobiography, which he agreed to complete and deliver to us in 1999.

"We now have waited for over five years," the statement continued, "and have received neither the manuscript nor the return of the money we advanced Mr. Combs."

According to the court papers, Combs signed with Random House in 1998, and a manuscript was to be completed by December 15, 1999. But that deadline passed, and in 2000, Random House notified Combs that he was in breach of contract and that they wanted their money back.

"We had a disagreement with Random House that we hoped would be solved without litigation," said Combs' publicist Rob Shuter. "We anticipate that this will be resolved quickly."


This report is provided by MTV News