P. Diddy's Book Publisher Wants Money Back

By Stephen M. Silverman

02/16/2005 at 09:00 AM EST

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is in the worst situation an author can imagine: His book publisher wants his advance money back.

New York-based Random House is suing the music mogul, saying Combs owes the publisher $300,000 because he never delivered his promised memoir, the Associated Press reports.

In papers filed Monday at the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, Random House says that Combs, 35, and his corporation, Bad Boy, have "simply kept the money they never rightfully earned."

Not only is Random House – whose Ballantine imprint commissioned the Combs bio in 1998 and expected a manuscript to be delivered the following year – demanding the full $300,000 be returned, it also wants interest.

"Random House has seldom resorted to a legal course of action with its prospective authors who don't write the books we have contracted for, but Mr. Sean Combs has left us no choice," the publisher said in a statement Tuesday.

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