Legal
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Cardi B (born Belcalis Almanzar) has been sued for copyright infringement by Joshua Fraustro and Miguel Aguilar, who make up producer duo Kemika1956, alleging that the Grammy-winning rapper used their “Greasy Frybread” track without permission in her hit single “Enough (Miami).” According to court documents filed in Texas federal court on Wednesday (July 3), Fraustro […]
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with a new lawsuit by exotic dancer Adria English, who claims she was a victim of sex trafficking orchestrated in the 2000s by the Bad Boy mogul and others she named in a sprawling complaint filed Wednesday (July 3) in New York federal court.
According to the lawsuit, filed by attorneys Ariel Mitchell-Kidd and Steven Metcalf, English was a victim of sex trafficking at the hands of Combs along with his fellow defendants Tamiko Thomas, who was allegedly an employee of Bad Boy Entertainment at the time, and a man named Jacob Arabov (a.k.a. Jacob The Jeweler). She alleges that the trio was “aided and abetted” by several companies also named as defendants in the complaint, including Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Global Enterprises, Sean John Holdings, VIBE magazine and its current parent company, Penske Media Corporation (PMC). (PMC did not own VIBE when the alleged events occurred.)
Notably, the complaint alleges that the actions of all defendants amounted to a violation of federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) laws, which have historically been used to target the mafia, drug cartels and other organized crime rings (a similar state-level law in Georgia has formed the basis of prosecutors’ case against rapper Young Thug, whom they allege leads a violent Atlanta street gang known as Young Slime Life). These types of racketeering laws make it easier for prosecutors to sweep up members of alleged criminal enterprises based on many individual actions.
English claims she first came into contact with Combs in 2004 — when she says she was working as a dancer at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club in Manhattan — after accompanying her then-boyfriend, model Anthony Gallo, to an audition for a Sean John modeling campaign. While at the audition, she says Gallo and another model were asked to perform fellatio on Combs as a condition of booking the job. After Gallo refused, she claims he was later told he could book the campaign if he commanded English to work as a go-go dancer at Combs’ Labor Day White Party in the Hamptons, N.Y. “In an effort to assist Mr. Gallo’s desire to become a model, Plaintiff agreed to what she believed to be legitimate employment,” the complaint reads.
While working the event, English says she was instructed to give lap dances and be “sexually flirtatious” with guests and “forced to consume liquor and illicit narcotics,” including bottles she claims were laced with ecstasy. She alleges she was subsequently invited to perform at additional White Parties, where Combs and Thomas — whom she compares to Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein — eventually “groomed” her into sex trafficking.
By her third White Party, English claims that Combs and Thomas demanded she partake in sexual intercourse with guests, using knowledge of her past work in adult films “to coerce” her into doing so. This activity, she claims, continued through 2009 at White Parties thrown at Combs’ Hampton and Miami residences.
One of the men English says she was forced to have sexual intercourse with during this period was Jacob Arabov (Jacob The Jeweler) at the behest of Combs, as she feared she could lose her job along with her boyfriend’s future modeling opportunities. “Plaintiff, fearing not only her safety, but her and her then-boyfriend’s job security, did as instruct and went with Defendant Jacob where she engaged in forced sexual intercourse with Defendant Jacob at the demand and behest of Defendant Combs,” the complaint reads.
English further alleges that Combs kept hidden cameras in every room of his Hamptons and Miami homes and believes her sexual assaults were caught on tape, including when she was “unconscious.”
During this period, English also alleges that VIBE magazine published an image of her in a November 2006 story about Combs’ White Parties without her consent, claiming its use violates her “rights to privacy via misappropriation.” She claims she “did not discover the infringing use” until April 2024. She further accuses VIBE and parent company PMC of “intentionally and falsely marketing and promoting” Combs’ White Parties “as a high-profile networking and social event in an effort to disguise and deceive the real intent of the event…and to further the goals of the Defendants illegal and criminal Enterprise.”
English says she continued putting up with Combs’ demands in part due to promises that he would help her break into the music business by putting her in an all-female music group. She says she finally detached herself from Combs when she returned to California in 2009, at which point she claims she suffered from deep depression and anxiety in response to the past trauma of being assaulted and trafficked, along with her unraveling career.
According to the lawsuit, English’s victimization at the hands of Combs and his alleged co-conspirators has led her to suffer continued “extreme emotional distress” that has impacted every aspect of her personal life.
In a statement sent to Billboard, Combs’ attorney Jonathan Davis said, “No matter how many lawsuits are filed it won’t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone. We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason and without any proof. Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth and Mr. Combs is confident he will prevail against these and other baseless claims in court.”
Billboard reached out to Thomas and Arabov for comment but had not heard back by press time. PMC declined to comment.
This is the 10th sexual misconduct lawsuit to be filed against Combs since his ex-girlfriend, pop star Cassie, made waves with her sexual abuse suit against the mogul in November, which was settled less than 24 hours later. He has vehemently denied all cases against him. Combs’ Miami and Los Angeles homes were raided by federal agents in March, though no arrests were made.
In May, disturbing footage obtained by CNN showed Combs abusing Cassie in an elevator bank at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016. Soon after the footage came out, Combs apologized for his actions, which he says he was “disgusted” by.
“I was f—ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses,” he said in the since-deleted Instagram clip. “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.”
In the wake of the allegations, the fallout for Combs has continued to reverberate. Last month, his media company Revolt announced employees would become the company’s largest shareholders after Combs reportedly sold his stake to an anonymous buyer. Also in June, Combs’ Miami Day honor was revoked and Howard University withdrew an honorary degree it bestowed upon him.
Editor’s Note: PMC is the parent company of Billboard.
When New Orleans rapper B.G. came home in September after serving an 11-year sentence following his guilty plea on two counts of possession of a firearm and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, the rap community rejoiced. He’s the man responsible for entering the phrase “bling-bling” into the pop culture lexicon, after all.
But nearly a year later, the founding member of ’90s rap group Hot Boys is facing an unusual legal challenge: On Friday (June 28), a U.S. District Court judge in Louisiana ruled that the New Orleans rapper must provide the U.S. Probation Office with a copy of the lyrics to his upcoming songs for approval before producing or promoting them.
The decision, handed down by U.S. district court judge Susie Morgan, came several months after B.G. (real name Christopher Dorsey) was arrested in March for performing at a Las Vegas concert alongside rapper Lil Boosie; apparently, B.G. needed prior permission from the court to associate with acts that also have felony convictions on their record, as Lil Boosie does. The probation officer in the case also cited B.G.’s work with Gucci Mane, another rapper/convicted felon with whom B.G. released a collaborative mixtape, Choppers & Bricks, in December.
B.G. was subsequently released on his own recognizance pending the judge’s decision. Shortly after, the rapper expressed his frustration in an Instagram post, saying in part, “It’s crazy how after paying my debt to society with 12 and a half years of my life I come home and still ain’t free…I been doing everything the right way and it seems like that ain’t enough.”
At a court hearing on June 18, B.G. and prosecutors confirmed they had reached a deal to modify the conditions of the rapper’s supervised release following his March arrest but “disagreed” over the prosecutors’ request to prohibit the rapper “from promoting and glorifying future gun violence/murder” in his music and at his concerts, according to the June 28 ruling.
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“The Defendant argues that the additional condition proposed by the Government is an unconstitutional prior restraint of speech that is an overly broad condition of supervised release,” the ruling reads.
The judge ultimately found that the prosecutors’ request was “not sufficiently clear and specific to serve as a guide for the Defendant’s conduct and for those entrusted with his supervision,” instead imposing a special condition that B.G. provide the probation office “with a copy of the lyrics of any song he writes,” according to the ruling. All lyrics B.G. shares with the probation office will be passed to the U.S. government, which can then decide if his “conduct is inconsistent with the goals of rehabilitation,” the ruling continues.
A representative for B.G. did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment.
The ruling is certain to cause controversy at a time when the practice of lyrics being used against rappers in criminal court has become a hot-button issue. In November, a judge ruled that Young Thug‘s lyrics can be used during his YSL RICO case, saying that “the First Amendment is not on trial.” Bobby Shmurda and the late Drakeo the Ruler have also had their lyrics used against them in criminal cases. There have since have been laws passed and proposed on both the state and federal levels to stop the criminalization of rap lyrics; in September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a statute restricting the practice, while similar laws have been proposed in New York and the U.S. House of Representatives.
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: Pharrell Williams and Louis Vuitton face a trademark lawsuit over “Pocket Socks”; Diplo is hit with a lawsuit claiming he distributed “revenge porn”; the Village People move forward with a lawsuit against Disney; a longtime attorney repping Britney Spears moves on; and much more.
Top stories this week…
SOCKED WITH A LAWSUIT – Pharrell Williams and Louis Vuitton were hit with a trademark lawsuit over their launch of a high-end line of “Pocket Socks” a literal sock-with-a-pocket that launched at Paris Fashion Week last year and sells for the whopping price of $530. The case was filed by a California company called Pocket Socks Inc. that says it’s been using that same name for more than a decade on a similar product. AI FIRMS FIRE BACK – Suno and Udio, the two AI music startups sued by the major record label last week over allegations that they had stolen copyrighted works on a mass scale to create their models, fired back with statements in their defense. Suno called its tech “transformative” and promised that it would only generate “completely new outputs”; Udio said it was “completely uninterested in reproducing content in our training set.”REVENGE PORN CLAIMS – Diplo was sued by an unnamed former romantic partner who accused him of violating “revenge porn” laws by sharing sexually-explicit videos and images of her without permission. NYPD confirmed to Billboard that a criminal investigation into the alleged incident was also underway. DISCO v. DISNEY – A California judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Village People that claims the Walt Disney Co. has blackballed the legendary disco band from performing at Disney World. Disney had invoked California’s anti-SLAPP law and argued it had a free speech right to book whatever bands it chooses, but a judge ruled that the company had failed to show the issue was linked to the kind of “public conversation” that’s protected under the statute. WRIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME – More than two years after Mathew Rosengart helped Britney Spears escape the longstanding legal conservatorship imposed by her father, the powerhouse litigator is no longer representing the pop star. In a statement, the Greenberg Traurig attorney said he was shifting to focusing on other clients: “It’s been an honor to serve as Britney’s litigator and primarily to work with her to achieve her goals.” PHONY FEES? – SiriusXM was hit with a class action lawsuit that claims the company has been earning billions in revenue by tacking a shady “U.S. Music Royalty Fee” onto consumers’ bills. The fee — allegedly 21.4% of the actual advertised price — represents a “deceptive pricing scheme whereby SiriusXM falsely advertises its music plans at lower prices than it actually charges,” the suit claims. DIVORCE DRAMA – Amid an increasingly ugly divorce case, Billy Ray Cyrus filed a new response claiming that he had been abused physically, verbally and emotionally by his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Firerose. The filing actually came in response to allegations that it was Cyrus who had subjected Firerose to “psychological abuse” during their short-lived marriage. UK ROYALTIES LAWSUIT – A group of British musicians filed a joint lawsuit against U.K. collecting society PRS, accusing the organization of a “lack of transparency” and “unreasonable” terms in how it licenses and administers live performance rights. The case, filed at London’s High Court, was brought by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, as well as rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain and numerous other artists.
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The Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (abbreviated SGAE in Spanish) has been fined 6.38 million euros (more than $6.9 million, using the average 2023 conversion rate) by the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) for anti-competitive practices related to its licensing deals with radio and TV stations.
SGAE has been fined for “two infractions of abuse of dominant position” by designing and applying its licensing rates in a manner that forces radio and TV operators to accept an “averaged availability rate” (comparable to a flat rate) to be able to use its repertoire, according to a CNMC press release on Wednesday (June 26).
The widespread application of the flat rate by the Spanish collecting society “has had a double anti-competitive effect,” the CNMC says. The first effect, which the CNMC refers to as “exploitative abuse,” results from SGAE’s practice of forcing licensees to pay the flat rate “unrelated to the actual use they make of their repertoire, both in terms of the number of works and the intensity of their use,” according to the release, which states this practice has been ongoing since “at least” Jan. 1, 2016.
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Because licensees are forced to pay the flat rate regardless of the extent of their use of SGAE’s repertoire, the CNMC adds, licensees’ incentives to contract with SGAE competitors with less substantial repertoires are limited — a second anti-competitive effect that hinders “the entry and expansion” of those competitors in the marketplace.
According to the CNMC, SGAE “enhanced” the latter effect — which it says SGAE instituted from “at least” Jan. 1, 2016, through Dec. 31, 2017 — by “presenting its musical repertoire to users as universal and offering guarantees of indemnity against possible claims by third parties for the use of rights that do not belong to its repertoire.” The CNMC argues this further limited incentives for licensees to contract with SGAE competitors.
In addition to fines, SGAE has been ordered to cease these behaviors.
Investigations into SGAE began after complaints were made by audiovisual media copyright entities Management Entity (Dama) and Unison Rights, S.L. (Unison), the release states.
Billboard reached out to SGAE but had not heard back by press time.
Earlier this year, Billboard reported SGAE’s intentions to improve its reputation under new CEO Cristina Perpiñá-Robert, who was appointed a little more than a year ago.
“SGAE is one of the world’s leading CMOs, with a crucial role to play for its members,” Perpiñá-Robert previously said. “This year is our 125th anniversary, which is a chance to celebrate what we’ve achieved but also highlight where we need to reform. I’m determined that SGAE should achieve a greater presence internationally.”
Last year, SGAE took in 349.1 million euros ($377.8 million, based on the 2023 average conversion rate) and distributed 354.1 million euros ($383.2 million), according to its 2023 financial results, while the number of members with authors rights grew from 36,956 to 83,148.
Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) is facing yet another lawsuit. West along with his Yeezy brand and former head of staff Milo Yiannopoulos were sued by eight alleged former employees, who claim they were “subjected to intolerable harassment and discrimination.”
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The sprawling lawsuit was filed in district court with the Central District of California on Saturday (June 29) and has been viewed by Billboard. A portion of the plaintiffs claim they were minors as young as 14 years old while working at Yeezy.
Plaintiffs ranging from ages 14 to 25 came from across the United States and other countries such as the United Kingdom, Hungary and Nigeria to work at Yeezy.
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However, the plaintiffs said they overworked for “inhuman” hours in a segregated working environment where Black and African employees were separated and given “less favorable” work assignments.
Various plaintiffs were tasked with building Ye’s scrapped YZY Porn venture. Minors claim they were exposed to pornographic images pertaining to the x-rated endeavor.
Around April 27, 2024, one employee alleges that Ye’s wife Bianca Censori shared a link to “hardcore pornography” with them slated to be part of the YZY Porn app.
A plaintiff known in the docs as “John Doe 1” claims he was exposed to pornographic images which were disseminated in group chats as part of the team’s communication channels. Another plaintiff who kept their identity hidden is listed as “John Doe 2” in the lawsuit and claims they were subjected to a “highly inappropriate and distressing work environment.”
“Our team looks forward to achieving justice on behalf of our very deserving clients for theshocking working environment that they were forced to endure,” said Ben Lockyer of LockyerLaw LLC.
Jordanna Thigpen of Thigpen Legal added: “Discrimination is intolerable anywhere, anytime. We believe a jury will agree that these employers must be accountable.”
All eight former Yeezy employees claim they were not paid for their work during their time working for Ye.
The legal activity has been mounting for Ye in recent months. He was hit with a sexual assault lawsuit in June by former assistant Lauren Pisciotta, who claimed she faced a “systematic” onslaught of sexual harassment and was sent graphic text messages from the “Good Life” rapper.
West settled another suit in June related to his Vultures album when he reached an agreement with Donna Summers’ estate to resolve a copyright lawsuit that accused him of interpolating her 1977 hit “I Feel Love” without permission in his song “Good (Don’t Die).”
Billboard has reached out to Ye’s reps for comment.
Justin Timberlake jokingly referenced his arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated at his tour stop in Boston.
On Saturday (June 29), the 43-year-old singer and actor cracked a one-liner about the incident during his concert at Boston’s TD Garden amid his Forget Tomorrow world tour.
“So, uh, is there anyone here tonight that is driving?” Timberlake asked the cheering crowd in a fan-captured clip posted on TikTok. “No, I’m just kidding,” he quickly added.
The comment drew a mix of gasps and laughter from the crowd. The “SexyBack” followed the wisecrack by asking the audience who’s attending for the first time and who’s seen him before, according to TMZ.
Timberlake was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Sag Harbor, N.Y. on June 17. He was arraigned on one count of “driving while intoxicated” the following day.
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“It was ascertained that the defendant was operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests,” according to the police report filed by officer Michael Arkinson.
“I had one martini and I followed my friends home,” Arkinson also quoted the 10-time Grammy winner as saying in his report.
Last week, Timberlake broke his silence following the arrest during his show at Chicago’s United Center on June 21.
“It’s been a tough week,” the singer told concert-goers. “I know I’m hard to love sometimes but you keep loving me right back.” He added, “We’ve been together through ups and downs and lefts and rights … but you’re here and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now.”
JT’s lawyer Edward Burke Jr. has stated that he will “vigorously” defend the star against the allegations. “He will have a lot to say at the appropriate time,” Burke said in a statement.
Timberlake’s next court hearing is scheduled for July 26, the same day he is scheduled to perform at Tauron Arena Krakow in Poland.
Diplo is speaking out after being accused of violating “revenge porn” laws.
The 45-year-old DJ and producer, whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz, took to social media on Friday (June 28) to address a civil lawsuit accusing him of sharing sexually-explicit videos and images of a former romantic partner without her permission.
“Don’t believe what you read in the news,” Diplo wrote on Instagram alongside a carousel of images and videos of himself. “I don’t own a 100 million dollar mansion, I didn’t pay 450k euros to rave in Ibiza and I didn’t send dirty snapchats in 2017.”
He added, “Let’s talk about how lucky I am to party with you guys and how good the raves are here in Europe .. (Athens Croatia Prague done .. París up next).”
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In a complaint filed Thursday (June 27) in Los Angeles federal court, an unnamed Jane Doe accuser claimed the DJ/producer recorded their sexual encounters and shared the materials with others on Snapchat “without plaintiff’s knowledge or consent.”
In her complaint, the woman claims she had consensual sexual relationship with Diplo from 2016 to 2023. During that time, she says she occasionally “gave defendant Diplo permission to record them having sex, but never gave him permission to distribute those images and videos to third parties and reiterated that he was not to record them without her explicit consent.”
In a statement on Friday, Diplo’s attorney Bryan Freedman strongly denied the new allegations by referencing previous lawsuits claiming abuse by the artist.
“In every case where there has been an allegation of improper conduct made against Wes, the result has been either an immediate dismissal of a bogus lawsuit coupled with an apology, a court-ordered award for Wes in excess of $1.2 million, or the slow demise of an obvious shakedown attempt that has gone absolutely nowhere,” Freedman said.
“Time and again, Wes has been targeted by a group of untrustworthy individuals and their unscrupulous lawyers, cobbling together falsehoods in search of a meritless payday. This suit seems to be just more of the same, which is why we have no reason to believe that this will end any differently than all the others.”
See Diplo’s response on Instagram here.
Eagles singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday (June 28) seeking the return of his handwritten notes and song lyrics from the band’s 1976 album Hotel California.
The civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court comes after prosecutors in March abruptly dropped criminal charges midway through a trial against three collectibles experts accused of scheming to sell the documents.
The Eagles co-founder has maintained the pages were stolen and had vowed to pursue a lawsuit when the criminal case was dropped against rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski.
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“These 100 pages of personal lyric sheets belong to Mr. Henley and his family, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit,” Daniel Petrocelli, Henley’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement Friday.
According to the lawsuit, the handwritten pages remain in the custody of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which declined to comment Friday on the litigation.
Lawyers for Kosinski and Inciardi dismissed the legal action as baseless, noting the criminal case was dropped after it was determined that Henley misled prosecutors by withholding critical information.
“Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history,” Shawn Crowley, Kosinski’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to litigating this case and bringing a lawsuit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of the justice system.”
Inciardi’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, said in a separate statement that the lawsuit attempts to “bully” and “perpetuate a false narrative.”
A lawyer for Horowitz, who isn’t named as a defendant as he doesn’t claim ownership of the materials, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
During the trial, the men’s lawyers argued that Henley gave the lyrics pages decades ago to a writer who worked on a never-published Eagles biography and later sold the handwritten sheets to Horowitz. He, in turn, sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who started putting some of the pages up for auction in 2012.
The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors agreed that defense lawyers had essentially been blindsided by 6,000 pages of communications involving Henley and his attorneys and associates.
Prosecutors and the defense said they received the material only after Henley and his lawyers made a last-minute decision to waive their attorney-client privilege shielding legal discussions.
Judge Curtis Farber, who presided over the nonjury trial that opened in late February, said witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging” and that prosecutors “were apparently manipulated.”
The federal judge presiding over the Department of Justice’s sweeping antitrust case against Live Nation thinks the trial can begin as early as March 2026, according to recent federal court filings.
Judge Arun Subramanian explained Thursday (June 27) in the case’s first pre-trial hearing that he hoped jury selection could begin that month, although he stopped short of setting a firm date.
One of the first items of business for Subramanian, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Joe Biden in 2023, is to rule on a planned motion by Live Nation to move the case from the Southern District of New York to the federal circuit court in Washington, D.C., where Live Nation’s 2010 merger with Ticketmaster was first approved. Subramanian said he believed his court could properly preside over the case but that he would fully consider the advisement.
Prior to being appointed to the federal bench, Subramanian was a partner at litigation firm Susman Godfrey LLP, which currently represents Live Nation in the 2021 Astroworld festival class action lawsuit. Subramanian did not work on that case.
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Government attorneys said in a Tuesday (July 25) filing that they plan to bring additional claims against Live Nation, noting the new claims could include information that attorneys from Live Nation have designated as highly confidential and might ask the courts to seal.
Attorneys for the government “do not believe any of the information at issue merits sealing or overcomes the presumption of public access to judicial documents,” the filings explain, noting that if Live Nation doesn’t budge, the government will ask the judge to rule on the matter.
Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers also complained that Live Nation attorneys have delayed discovery requests and failed to “fully comply with any of the United States’s three pre-complaint civil investigative demands” dating back to October 2022.
“It took Defendants nearly a year to start producing custodial documents,” the filing reads, noting that “their responses to many specifications remain incomplete today.”
Lawyers for Live Nation called the government’s discovery allegation false, noting that “since October 2022, Defendants have spent over 200,000 attorney hours reviewing documents, produced over 600,000 documents from nearly 70 custodians, produced over 33 million observations of data, submitted dozens of written responses, and provided investigative deposition testimony from three high-level executives in response to Plaintiffs’ investigations. In addition, DOJ has access to nearly two million documents that Defendants produced during prior investigations.”
Attorneys for Live Nation added that they want “any documents, data or testimony Plaintiffs received from third parties during their investigation” no later than July 22, 2024.
Live Nation is also challenging the government’s unusual request for a jury trial instead of having the verdict determined by a judge. “If it occurred, it would be the first jury trial ever in a government-brought monopolization case,” the company’s attorneys wrote.
Outside of Live Nation, the government also says it plans to issue more than 100 third-party subpoenas to “ticketers, promoters, ticket brokers, venues, venue management companies, artists, and artists’ agents and managers.”
Live Nation declined to comment for this story.
Live Nation is being represented by longtime attorney and litigator Timothy L. O’Mara and Alfred C. Pfeiffer, both partners at Latham and Watkins. Pfeiffer is the former co-chair of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice. Ticketmaster is represented by David R. Marriott with Cravath, who successfully represented Illumina against the Federal Trade Commission and secured a 2022 victory for the Louis Dreyfus Company against DOJ efforts to block the sale of Imperial Sugar to U.S. Sugar.
The government is represented by Bonny Sweeney, who joined the DOJ in 2022. Sweeney formerly served as a partner at San Francisco firm Hausfeld where she was co-chair of its U.S. antitrust practice group. In 2023, she was named antitrust lawyer of the year by the California Lawyers Association.