Legal
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With claims of uncleared samples back in the news, Billboard dug up every case that’s been filed against the controversial rapper. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: AI music firms Suno and Udio hit back hard at a billion-dollar copyright lawsuit filed by the major labels; Damon Dash faces a court-ordered auction of his one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records; Cardi B files for divorce from husband Offset; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: “A Threat to Their Market Share”
The first “answer” to a lawsuit is typically a pretty sparse document. An accused defendant admits or denies each claim and offers up a list of every possible defense they might use, but that’s about it. The real arguments are usually saved for later filings, like a motion to dismiss the case. That’s what made the answers filed last week by AI music firms Suno and Udio so fascinating. Facing sprawling copyright lawsuits from the music industry, the two companies went well beyond boilerplate denials – offering extended arguments that attempted to frame the narrative of a multi-billion dollar legal battle that could take years to resolve. In doing so, they admitted to using copyrighted songs to train their models, and they argued that doing so was clearly a form of legal “fair use.” And they blasted the major labels (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment) that filed the case, accusing them of abusing copyright law to maintain that power. “What the major record labels really don’t want is competition,” Suno wrote in its filing. “Where Suno sees musicians, teachers and everyday people using a new tool to create original music, the labels see a threat to their market share.” Go read our full story on the response filings, with access to the full arguments made by both companies.
Other top stories this week…
REASONABLE DOUBT? – Damon Dash’s one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records is going up for a court-ordered auction later this month to help pay off his debts – namely, more than $1 million in legal judgments and another $145,000 in unpaid child support. The minimum bid for the auction has been set at $1.2 million, but it’s not exactly clear what the buyer would be purchasing — and they shouldn’t expect a normal due diligence process. JT PLEADS NOT GUILTY – Justin Timberlake entered a not guilty plea to drunk driving charges following his June arrest in the Hamptons, appearing virtually while on the European leg of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour. During the hearing, the star’s attorney reiterated previous statements that Timberlake (who refused to take a breathalyzer) was actually not intoxicated at the time of his arrest. CARDI B DIVORCE – Cardi B filed for divorce from Offset after seven years of marriage, a split that her reps said “has been a long time coming and is amicable.” In her divorce petition, filed in New Jersey court, the Grammy-winning hip-hop superstar is seeking primary custody of her two children and unborn baby on the way, as well as child support from Offset. The “WAP” star previously filed for divorce in 2020 in Atlanta, but later withdrew the case after the two stars reconciled. DON’T STOP LITIGATIN’ – The never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon erupted yet again, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon over claims that his “exorbitant” spending and other problems have led to a “deadlock” that’s threatening to cripple the band’s touring operations. If you want an idea of how dysfunctional things have gotten between Cain and Schon: “It is common that one director will terminate an employee or crew member, and hours or days later, the other director will rehire that same individual.” NO BOND FOR YOUNG THUG – Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, the newly-installed replacement judge overseeing Young Thug’s sprawling Atlanta gang trial, denied the rapper’s renewed request to be released from jail, leaving him incarcerated until a verdict is reached sometime next year. Thug has already been sitting in jail for more than two years while the slow-moving case has dragged on, through an unprecedented 10-month jury selection, a trial marked by delays and disruptions, and now weeks of tumult over a secret meeting between the judge and prosecutors. FEDERAL AI DEEPFAKES BILL – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced the NO FAKES Act, which aims to protect artists and others from deepfakes and AI-powered fake vocals like last year’s Fake Drake song. The bill would for the first time create federal intellectual property protections for the so-called right of publicity, which restricts how someone’s name, image, likeness and voice can be used without consent. STUBHUB SUED OVER ‘JUNK FEES’ – StubHub was hit with a lawsuit from Washington D.C.’s attorney general over allegations that the ticket resale platform foists “convoluted junk fees” on concertgoers after luring them in with “deceptively low prices.” The case, which echoes complaints made by the Department of Justice about Live Nation and Ticketmaster, claims that DC consumers alone have paid $118 million in such fees to StubHub since 2015. R. KELLY AT SCOTUS – The disgraced R&B singer took one of his sex abuse convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to overturn his convictions for child pornography and enticement on statute of limitations grounds. The appeal does not deal with Kelly’s other set of convictions on racketeering charges, which remains pending before a lower court. KISS KISS, BANG BANG – The 1975 and the band’s frontman Matty Healy were hit with a $2.4 million lawsuit from the organizers of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival – an event that was shut down last summer after Healy gave a speech criticizing the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws and then kissed a male bandmate on stage. The incident (which has been criticized by local rights activists as counterproductive) breached the band’s contract with the festival, according to the lawsuit. SAMPLE SETTLEMENT – French Montana reached a settlement to end a lawsuit claiming his 2022 song “Blue Chills” features an unlicensed sample from Skylar Gudasz’s 2020 song “Femme Fatale.” The deal will resolve a case that claimed French’s reps had tentatively agreed to license the clip, but that the rapper released the song without ever actually doing so. JUICE WRLD ESTATE SUED – A music producer named Joshua Jaramillo is suing Juice WRLD’s estate over claims that he’s owed royalties from the late rapper’s 2021 hit “Girl of My Dreams.” Jaramillo claims he was promised a 5% ownership stake and an additional 1% producer royalty for the track, which featured Suga of BTS and debuted at No. 29 on the Hot 100. ANOTHER TIKTOK CASE – The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit against TikTok claiming the social media giant had violated children’s online privacy law and run afoul of a previous settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. While serious, the case is likely second on the list for TikTok’s legal team, which is also litigating a separate lawsuit challenging legislation that would block the company from operating in the U.S. entirely. CYRUS DIVORCE SETTLED – Billy Ray Cyrus and wife Firerose (born Johanna Hodges) have reached a settlement to end their contentious divorce case, ending weeks of hyperbolic accusations of abuse and wrongdoing from both sides. In a statement, Cyrus said he was “relieved” and called the short-lived marriage an “insane scam.” A source close to Firerose countered with a statement that said she had settled for no money and wanted her husband’s “smear campaign” to end. KEHLANI CULT CLAIMS – Kehlani’s ex-partner Javaughn Young-White filed a petition seeking legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, claiming that singer is involved in a cult. “This cult controls her actions and her behavior, including when it comes to the upbringing of our daughter,” Young-White’s lawyers wrote.
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Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose (born Johanna Hodges) have settled their divorce, according to a statement from the country star’s lawyers posted on his Instagram Monday (Aug. 5).
The message from attorneys Rose Palermo and Jason Talley states that the settlement was reached on Friday (Aug. 2) and that the ex-couple was declared legally separated three days later. “Mr. Cyrus is relieved to put this nightmare behind him,” it reads. “Further, a couple of weeks ago, prior to mediation, Ms. Hodges legally changed her last name from ‘Hodges’ to ‘Cyrus.’ Mr Cyrus feels that this validates his assertion that his ex-wife’s sole impetus for marrying him was to obtain his last name.”
The post also included a statement directly from the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer. “I’m just very relieved,” he wrote. “This has been absolutely the most crazy insane scam I have ever heard of … Not only was it a web of lies that put me in physical danger … it was a matter of the heart. Love is blind … that’s for sure.”
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A source close to Firerose countered in a statement shared with Billboard: “If this went to trial, Firerose and her team would have provided a significant amount of evidence to prove he fabricated a narrative that would benefit his public image. There is no doubt she would have been awarded the divorce, but it was much more important to her that this continuous smear campaign end, and the emotional turmoil stop so she can close the door on this chapter and recover from her surgery peacefully.”
The source also said that the Australian singer chose to settle for $0, wanting to end her association with Cyrus once and for all. They added that Firerose filed for Cyrus’ last name shortly after they wed — not a couple of weeks ago, as the Hannah Montana star claimed.
Cyrus filed for divorce on May 22, citing “irreconcilable differences” and “inappropriate marital conduct” seven months after the couple married. In a follow-up filing on June 13, Cyrus requested an emergency motion accusing Firerose of making nearly $100,000 in unauthorized “fraudulent” credit card charges while seeking a temporary restraining order to stop her, accusations her attorneys labeled “untrue.”
After Cyrus’ divorce filing, Firerose accused him of domestic abuse, saying he was psychologically abusive during their marriage and calling the country star “unpredictable and volatile” due to alleged substance abuse. She also claimed that he filed for divorce one day before she was scheduled to have a preventative double mastectomy. In a statement shared with Billboard, Cyrus’ lawyers “vehemently” denied the allegations and said that while he was “certainly vocal, frustrated and angry … it is the plaintiff who, in fact, has been abused. Not only verbally and emotionally by the defendant, but PHYSICALLY.”
The source close to Firerose, however, claims that in a former marital dissolution agreement, Cyrus had included a clause asking her to say she was lying about having BRCA, a.k.a. the “breast cancer” gene. The source claims it was thrown out after Firerose provided her test results and medical records proving otherwise, adding that her surgery is set for later this month.
In July, a 90-second audio clip of Cyrus berating Firerose for apparently making him late to a function leaked online. “Of course, she was intentionally on her best behavior since she knew the recording was being made,” Cyrus’ attorneys responded to the leak in a statement shared with Billboard. “If Mr. Cyrus was truly the person that Ms. Hodges desires the court of public opinion to believe with the release of her one-sided recording, then it is mindboggling to try and explain why Ms. Hodges begged to return to live with him and for Mr. Cyrus to give her a chance to ‘explain everything’ after he filed to annul or dissolve their marriage.”
If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
Kehlani’s ex-partner Javaughn Young-White has filed a petition to gain legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Adeya, claiming the singer is in what he describes as a cult. He is also requesting child support.
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In the court documents, filed in Los Angeles on July 24 and obtained by Billboard, Young-White claims “everyone else has bigger say-so when it comes to upbringing of our daughter than I do.” He says that because Adeya, who arrived in March 2019, was “born in a home and not in a conventional setting like a hospital,” Young-White’s name is not on the birth certificate as her father. Additionally, he claims he requested a copy of both the child’s birth certificate and social security number, both to “no avail.” (In announcing the birth of Adeya, Kehlani shared via a since-deleted Instagram post that they welcomed their healthy baby girl via “unmedicated homebirth.”)
According to Young-White’s filing, Kehlani — whose full name is Kehlani Parrish — allegedly “has been involved in this cult for the past few years and it appears that this cult controls her actions and her behavior, including when it comes to the upbringing of our daughter.”
Per the documents, Young-White claims he has attempted to retrieve his daughter in the past, but was allegedly “physically restrained and threatened” by members of what he referred to as the cult. “While Respondent is on tour, and our daughter is in the care of her fellow cult members, Adeya sleeps in the bed with, and is given baths by random adult members of the cult and she is often in the bedroom alone with some of these people,” he alleges.
Young-White concluded by requesting that Kehlani takes a psychological exam, that his name be added to Adeya’s birth certificate and that Adeya’s name be changed officially from Adeya Parrish to Adeya Parrish Young-White. “I am also requesting that I have full custody of Adeya due to [Kehlani]’s busy schedule, her relationship with the cult that she is involved in,” the filing reads.
“I am not here to disparage [Kehlani]. However, the environment that she has created for her self is not the type of environment that a child should be living and therefore, I bring myself to the mercy and wisdom of the Court to save my daughter before it is too late,” he concluded in his filing.
Kehlani has not yet publicly responded to the allegations in Young-White’s petition for custody. Billboard has reached out to reps for both the singer and her former partner for comment.
Puddle of Mudd lead singer Wes Scantlin was arrested after allegedly resisting arrest during a traffic stop. On Wednesday (July 31), the 52-year-old rocker was pulled over for a traffic violation by police in Burbank, Calif. During the stop, officials discovered Scantlin had an outstanding warrant from a previous crime for allegedly having a weapon […]
The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.
The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.
The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13. It also says the companies failed to honor requests from parents who wanted their children’s accounts deleted, and chose not to delete accounts even when the firms knew they belonged to kids under 13.
“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.
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TikTok said it disagreed with the allegations, “many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed.”
“We offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors,” the company said in a statement.
The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.
In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13.
That same year, Musical.ly — acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened.
In the complaint, the Justice Department and the FTC allege TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13. The feature allows users to view videos but bars them from uploading content.
The two agencies allege the information collected included activities on the app and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing the data with other companies – such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer – to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be on the platform more, a practice TikTok called “re-targeting less active users.”
The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or obtain parental approval, by using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into millions.
After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and asked for them to be deleted, federal officials said TikTok asked them to go through a convoluted process to deactivate them and frequently did not honor their requests.
Overall, the government said TikTok employed deficient policies that were unable to prevent children’s accounts from proliferating on its app and suggested the company was not taking the issue seriously. In at least some periods since 2019, the complaint said TikTok’s human moderators spent an average of five to seven seconds reviewing accounts flagged as potentially belonging to a child. It also said TikTok and ByteDance have technology they can use to identify and remove children’s accounts, but do not use them for that reason.
The alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content, the complaint said.
In March, a person with the matter had told the AP the FTC’s investigation was also looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.
Those allegations were not included in the complaint, which is asking the court to fine the companies and enter a preliminary injunction to prevent future violations.
Other social media companies have also come under fire for how they’ve handled children’s data.
In 2019, Google and YouTube agreed to pay a $170 million fine to settle allegations that the popular video site had illegally collected personal information on children without their parents’ consent.
And last fall, dozens of U.S. states sued Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook and Instagram, for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. A lawsuit filed by 33 states claims that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of COPPA. Nine attorneys general are also filing lawsuits in their respective states, bringing the total number of states taking action to 41 plus Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published by the Associated Press.
The never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon erupted again this week, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon over claims that his “exorbitant” spending is threatening to cripple the band’s touring operations.
In a complaint made public in Delaware court on Tuesday (July 30), Cain claimed that Schon’s alleged spending — including unilaterally chartering private jets and charging personal expenses to their shared American Express card — has led to a “deadlock” that must be resolved.
“The deadlock between the company’s directors is now interfering with the company’s ability to take even the most basic actions and is causing significant disruptions in the smooth operation of the company,” Cain’s lawyers write, adding that the problems “pose a severe threat of harm to the company and to Journey’s storied history of musical greatness.”
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Legal battles are nothing new for Schon and Cain, the two key remaining members of an iconic rock band that’s still printing money decades after its “Don’t Stop Believin’” heyday.
Back in 2022, Schon sued Cain over allegations that his bandmate had unfairly blocked his access to the Amex account, “interfering” with the band’s activities and delaying payments to crew members and vendors. A few months later, Cain sued him back — claiming he had placed those restrictions on the Amex to stop Schon from “misusing” the company card, including spending $400,000 in a single month.
The new case, filed in Delaware’s Chancery Court, largely rehashes those same disagreements over spending — like Cain claiming that Schon has “spent up to $10,000 per night for hotel rooms for him and his wife” during their most recent tour.
But in technical terms, the new case focuses narrowly on the governance of Freedom 2020 Inc., a Delaware-based corporate entity they created to operate Journey’s touring. Since Cain and Schon each control exactly 50% of the company, the lawsuit says the two have reached an impasse that has spilled into other aspects of the band’s operations, like managing their staffers.
“Petitioner and respondent are deadlocked with regard to issues concerning the hiring and firing of company employees and Band crew members,” Cain’s lawyers write in the lawsuit. “It is common that one director will terminate an employee or crew member, and hours or days later, the other director will rehire that same individual.”
The lawsuit claims the strife between Cain and Schon has also led to other problems, including disagreements about whether to accept an advance from AEG for their most recent tour, the purchase of cancellation insurance and other problems.
“The deadlock between petitioner and respondent has created a toxic internal environment,” Cain’s lawyers write. “Rather than focusing on the band’s performances during a major international tour, the band’s [members and crew] now find themselves caught in the middle of the directors’ disputes, afraid of performing their job responsibilities, and pressured to align with one director or another.”
As a solution, Cain is asking the court to appoint a neutral third director of the company, who will be able to “issue the tie-breaking vote” during disputes over key issues.
In a statement to Billboard, Cain’s attorney Sid Liebesman stressed that his client was not seeking damages and only wanted to to resolve the impasse: “It is expected that the third director will provide resolution to the issues between Jon and Neal,” Liebesman said. “It is Jon’s intent for Journey to continue providing great live music throughout the current tour.”
An attorney who has represented Schon in his previous litigation with Cain did not return a request for comment on Friday (Aug. 2).
Even before Schon and Cain came to blows, members of Journey had been sparring in court for years. Back in 2020, the two men teamed up to file a lawsuit against former drummer Steven Smith and former bassist Ross Valory over the band’s name. And in 2022, former lead singer Steve Perry took legal action to stop Schon and Cain from registering federal trademarks on the names of many of the band’s biggest hits.
Justin Timberlake made a brief appearance via Zoom in a Sag Harbor, NY courtroom on Friday morning (August 2) where a spokesperson for the singer confirmed to Billboard that he entered a not guilty plea in connection with his June arrest for DWI. According to CNN, Timberlake, 43, attended the arraignment virtually and spoke twice […]
French Montana has reached a settlement to end a lawsuit claiming his 2022 song “Blue Chills” features an unlicensed sample, resolving allegations that he’d tentatively agreed to pay for the clip but never actually did so.
Skylar Gudasz’s 2020 song “Femme Fatale” can be heard playing throughout French’s track — and in a lawsuit filed last year, she claimed the rapper’s reps initially offered to pay her for the sample. But she said French (Karim Kharbouch) then dropped “Blue Chills” without ever actually signing that deal.
In court filings on Wednesday (July 31), attorneys for both sides asked a federal judge to dismiss the case. Each side will pay their own costs, attorneys’ fees and expenses, but any of terms of the agreement were not disclosed in court filings.
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Neither side immediately returned requests for comment.
Gudasz claimed in her August 2023 lawsuit she had first been contacted about French using “Femme Fatale” in May 2022 by Deborah Mannis-Gardner, a well-known industry executive who has been called the “queen” of sample clearance. Gudasz said she and her lawyer then negotiated a deal in which she would receive more than $7,000 in upfront fees, an .08% cut on master royalties, and a 50% share of the copyright for French’s new composition.
But a month later, she claims that French, without notice, released the song “prior to finalizing and signing a licensing agreement.” Gudasz says that her lawyer quickly alerted Mannis-Gardner about the problem.
“Oh jeez,” Mannis-Gardner allegedly wrote in a response email, saying she would reach out to French’s attorney about the issue. But Gudasz says the situation was never resolved, claiming Mannis-Gardner “continued to maintain there would be a final agreement, sent emails finalizing the licensing agreement and requested invoices from plaintiff, which plaintiff timely sent … and even sent plaintiff a congratulatory email.”
“Despite repeated promises from defendants …. no signed agreement, fees, royalties, licensing agreements or monies have ever been sent to plaintiff,” Gudasz’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
Gudasz says the aborted negotiations prove that French “knowingly infringed” the earlier song because they show that he was aware that he needed a license but chose to proceed without one. She claims that French even posted comments to Instagram congratulating her and acknowledged her role in “Blue Chills” on an episode of Apple Music’s Rap Life Radio.
In addition to French Montana, the lawsuit also named producer Harry Fraud (real name Rory William Quigley) as a defendant, as well Sony Music Entertainment and several other companies involved in French’s song. Mannis-Gardner was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit and was not accused of any wrongdoing.
Wednesday’s settlement resolves the lawsuit’s allegations against all defendants.
Damon Dash’s one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records is going up for auction later this month — but a source tells Billboard that the shares might come with some key limitations.
According to federal court filings this week, the United States Marshals Service will auction off Dash’s 33.3% interest in the storied record company to satisfy an $823,000 judgment against him in a lawsuit filed by movie producer Josh Webber over a failed film partnership.
The auction, set for Aug 29 at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, will have a minimum bid of $1.2 million, and prospective bidders will be required to post a $240,000 deposit for the right to take part in the proceedings.
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The sale will be for Dash’s stake in Roc-A-Fella Inc., an entity whose primary assets are the rights to Jay-Z’s iconic debut album Reasonable Doubt. According to an April article by Rolling Stone, the rest of the catalog of music released by Roc-A-Fella, which dissolved as an operational label in 2013, is owned by other entities and isn’t involved.
The owners of the other two-thirds of Roc-A-Fella — label cofounders Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) and Kareem “Biggs” Burke — have already attempted to stop the auction, including making changes to the company’s bylaws and intervening in the lawsuit. But a federal judge rejected such opposition in February.
The chance to own a valuable piece of rap IP will surely draw bidders, but a source with knowledge of the situation tells Billboard that there are important limitations to what is being auctioned off — namely, that they are buying a stake in a company with other members.
“Whomever buys Dame’s stake in Roc-A-Fella will be a minority owner without authority over any decision-making,” the source tells Billboard. “They won’t have the ability to sell the copyright or borrow against the master as all decisions require majority vote.”
The source also cautioned that the clock was ticking on Roc-A-Fella’s rights to Reasonable Doubt: “There’s also an expiration date on the master ownership for the company, which means revenue and the only asset doesn’t have many years left.”
The auction will be coordinated by Webber’s attorney, Chris Brown. He did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
Webber won his judgment back in 2022 after suing Dash for copyright infringement and defamation over their failed partnership on producing a film called Dear Frank. But Dash has yet to hand over the money, hence the court-ordered auction.
The filmmaker isn’t the only one seeking the money from Dash’s Roc-A-Fella stake. The New York City Department of Social Services (NYCDSS) will actually have first dibs, according to court documents, since Dash owes a total of $145,096 in unpaid child support to a woman named Rachel Roy for his two daughters and to a woman named Cindy Morales for his son.
Brown is also seeking to collect another $155,000 that Dash owes to him and another client, photographer Monique Bunn, from separate legal actions. But they’ve agreed that NYCDSS and Webber deserve to recoup their debts from Dash first.
If any money from the auction is left over, it will go to Dash himself. His attorney did not return a request for comment on Thursday.
Back in 2021, attorneys for Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella sued Dash after news broke that he was planning to auction off a stake in Reasonable Doubt as a non-fungible token (NFT). They argued that the company, not Dash himself, owned the rights to the album: “The bottom line is simple: Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own.” A year later, Dash signed a settlement in which he agreed that he had no right to sell any part of Jay-Z’s album — as an NFT or otherwise.
Last year, attorneys for Jay-Z, Biggs and Roc-A-Fella mounted a concerted effort to stop the court-ordered sale of Dash’s stake in the company. After jumping into Webber’s lawsuit, they told a federal judge that the auction would violate company bylaws, which they had amended in 2021 to prohibit such a sale.
But in February, the judge overseeing the case said the updated Roc-A-Fella bylaws had been enacted without Dash’s input and were unenforceable. Instead, he offered an alternative route for Jay-Z and Biggs that would still “readily address their concern” with the sale: “They can participate in the auction and place the winning bid.”