Legal
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A founding member of the 1990s hip-hop group the Fugees was enmeshed in political conspiracies involving millions of dollars in foreign money under two different U.S. presidents, federal prosecutors said as his trial got underway with opening statements Thursday (March 30).
Prakazrel âPrasâ Michel is accused of funneling money from a fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obamaâs 2012 re-election campaign. Five years later, prosecutors say he tried to squelch an investigation into the financier and persuade then-President Donald Trumpâs administration to return to China a âvocal critic of the government.â
âThis is a case about foreign money, foreign influence and concealment,â said prosecutor Nicole Rae Lockhart. Michel pocketed over $100 million in the saga involving âpolitical intrigue, backroom dealing ⊠burner phones and lies,â she said.
Michelâs lawyers have previously said he is innocent and âextremely disappointedâ in the charges, but the defense decided to wait to give its opening statement in the trial thatâs expected to last weeks.
The Department of Justice says Michel conspired with Low Taek Jho, usually known as Jho Low. The fugitive financier is accused of masterminding a money-laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions from the Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB.
Looted money paid for jewelry and luxury art and helped finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street.
Low was once known for his business and social ties to American celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Leonardo DiCaprio, a possible witness in the case. During the 2012 presidential campaign, prosecutors allege Low directed more than $20 million to Michel, who concealed its origin by giving the money to straw donors to give to the Obama campaign. He later tried to lean on the donors to keep them from talking to investigators, Lockhart said.
In 2017, prosecutors say, the Grammy-winning rapper worked with a Republican âfixerâ to try and shut down a U.S. investigation into Low and embezzlement from the Malaysian fund. Heâs also accused of pushing the Trump administration to send a Chinese person who had fled to the U.S. back to China.
âIt almost worked,â Lockhart said. âThe defendant wanted money and was willing to break any laws necessary to get paid.â
The Justice Department last year announced charges against Low and two former Goldman Sachs bankers in the money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered money from the fund, which was created to spur economic development projects in Malaysia. Low is a fugitive but has maintained his innocence.
One of the bankers, Roger Ng, was sentenced to 10 years in prison this month for his role in the scheme.
The mother of Flo Ridaâs six-year-old son has filed a lawsuit against the owners of a rental property after Zohar P. Dillard was seriously injured in a March 4 fall from a fifth-floor window of her New Jersey apartment building.
According to People, Dillardâs mother, Alexis Adams, is named as a plaintiff in the negligence suit â along with her special needs son â in documents submitted to the Superior Court of New Jersey on Monday (March 27) against Pitch Perfect 74, LLC, Goldberg Management and others. The legal action came after the child was reportedly seriously injured in a fall in which he landed on a patch of concrete below the window; a spokesperson for Goldberg had not returned Billboardâs request for comment on the suit at press time.
A spokesperson for Flo Rida (born Tramar Lacel Dillard) did not return Billboardâs request for comment at press time; the rapper is reportedly not a party to the lawsuit.
According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by New Jerseyâs Daily Voice, Zohar suffered a shattered pelvis, left metatarsal fractures, a grade 3 liver laceration, internal bleeding and collapsed lungs in the incident and he remained in the ICU as of Wednesday (March 29). âAs a single mom to a special needs child, this feels like a nightmare,â Adams told the Voice. âMy heart is broken into a million pieces. It is devastating to see my child go through such pain and trauma knowing that this couldâve been avoided.â
Adamsâ attorney, Steven P. Haddad, demanded a jury trial and claims the buildingâs managers are at fault for maintaining the building in a ânegligent, careless and reckless manner creating foreseeable and dangerous conditions,â according to People. The suit claims that management installed âincorrect sized guardsâ on the windows on the fifth-floor apartment, âthereby breaching their duty of care.â At press time Haddad had not returned Billboardâs request for comment on the filing.
The suit is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages for Dillardâs current and future medical bills, legal feels and any ongoing and future medical and mental pain and suffering.
The Rolling Stonesâ famed âtongue and lipsâ logo is at the center of a new federal lawsuit, launched by a small clothing chain that says it was unfairly threatened by Universal Music Groupâs Bravado merch company with âunfoundedâ infringement litigation over a similar logo.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday (March 29), apparel retailer Simply Southern claimed it had received a cease-and-desist letter from Bravado, a unit of UMG that sells licensed merchandise for the Stones and dozens of other major artists. The letter allegedly took aim at T-shirts that featured a âdisembodied mouth,â claiming they were confusingly similar to the iconic logo.
But lawyers for Simply Southern say its apparel designs were âclearly and demonstrably different,â and they want a federal judge to rule that the company âhas not infringed Bravadoâs asserted intellectual property rights.â
âSimply Southernâs mouth images show many elements that are very different from Bravadoâs asserted tongue/lips image,â the company wrote in its complaint. âFor example, Simply Southernâs images have a more plump lower lip, more square teeth, and a wider and more open mouth when compared to Bravadoâs asserted image.â
A representative for Bravado declined to comment. The Rolling Stones themselves are not named in the lawsuit and are not accused of any wrongdoing; a rep for the band did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.
Called âthe most famous logo in rock ânâ rollâ by the New York Times, the âtongue and lipsâ image was created in 1970 by John Pasche, a London art student who had been commissioned by the band to create a poster for its upcoming European tour. The design was then tweaked slightly by designer Craig Braun before it appeared in its final version on the back cover of the bandâs 1971 album Sticky Fingers.
Since then, the Stones logo has appeared countless times â on music releases, T-shirts, stickers, posters and even as the stage for the bandâs halftime performance during Super Bowl XL.
According to Wednesdayâs lawsuit, Bravado sent Simply Southern a letter on March 1, claiming to be the exclusive licensee to sell Rolling Stones merchandise. The lawyers for Bravado warned Simply Southern that its products were âconfusingly similarâ to the tongue and lips design, and that such offending merchandise infringed the bandâs trademarks.
The complaint filed in federal court (available in its entirety here) includes images Simply Southernâs two offending logos. Both appear visually similar to the Stones logo, but with differences. One is highly similar in shape, but features a different pink-and-leopard print color scheme; the other features the same red color scheme as the Stones logo, but includes a different orientation with different tongue placement.
From Simply Southernâs perspective, thatâs enough difference to avoid liability for trademark infringement.
âBecause the mouth is an inherently expressive body part, subtle changes in shape and positioning result in markedly different interpretations of emotional expression,â the company wrote. âBravadoâs asserted image is mostly devoid of emotion but has slight hints of either playfulness or defiance. By contrast, Simply Southernâs images are deeply expressive.â
Read Simply Southernâs full complaint here:
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: A court ruling on R. Kellyâs music royalties offers some answers but raises new questions; 50 Cent reaches a deal to end his lawsuit over alleged insinuations that he had penis surgery; Donald Glover defeats a copyright lawsuit over the Childish Gambino hit âThis Is Americaâ; Ohio cops sue Afroman for using their images after they raided his home with guns drawn; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Who Gets R. Kellyâs Record Royalties?
Twice convicted on allegations of sexual abuse and facing decades in federal prison, R. Kelly owes a lot of money to a lot of people. Luckily, a pile of recording royalties are sitting in his account at Sony Music. But who gets first access to them?
In a ruling last week, the Illinois Supreme Court said first dibs belong to Heather Williams, an abuse victim who won a $4 million civil judgment against Kelly in 2020. For procedural reasons, the appeals court said Williams should take priority over Midwest Commercial Funding, a Chicago landlord thatâs owed $3.5 million from Kelly over unpaid rent at a local studio space. The court upheld an earlier ruling that had ordered Sony to hand over âany funds currently in Kellyâs royalty accountâ to Williams, and keep giving her his incoming royalties until the judgment was paid off.
While state high courtâs decision offered some important clarity â the Sony account had been frozen for years while the case played out across the appeals courts â it left plenty of big questions unanswered.
-According to the decision, Kellyâs account held $1.5 million in 2020 when Williams initially demanded that Sony hand it over. But how much more money has been accrued since then? And how much is coming in each year? Sony declined to comment on the situation when asked.
-What about Kellyâs criminal victims? Federal judges in New York and Illinois have ordered him to pay more than $500,000 in restitution and fines after he was convicted on sex trafficking, racketeering and child porn charges. Should those victims also get access to the record royalties? Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Chicago both declined to comment on the situation.
-Kellyâs lawyers are currently trying to overturn the underlying $4 million judgment for Williams, arguing it was handed down when the singer was stuck in prison and that he was not afforded a proper chance to fight back. Those efforts face an uphill climb, but at the very least could delay any final payments.
-Finally, itâs important to note that last weekâs ruling was limited to his record royalties. The extent to which Kelly is still earning money from his compositional rights, and whether he would be able sell those rights for anything other than âfire saleâ prices, is an even murkier situation.
For a deeper breakdown of the situation, including access to the Illinois Supreme Courtâs entire written decision, go read our full story here.
Other top stories this weekâŠ
âENTIRELY DIFFERENTâ â A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Donald Glover of ripping off his chart-topping Childish Gambino hit âThis Is Americaâ from an earlier song by a rapper named Kidd Wes called âMade In America.â The judge said the lyrics were âentirely differentâ and that the accuser failed to satisfy even basic procedural requirements.
CASE CLOSED FOR 50 CENT â The rapper reached a settlement to end a lawsuit in which he accused a Miami medical spa of exploiting an innocent photo of him to imply that he was a client â and, more startlingly, to falsely suggest that 50 had received penile enhancement surgery as part of his work. No word on the terms of the agreement.
COPS SUE AFROMAN AFTER RAID â The rapper Afroman was hit with a bizarre civil lawsuit from several Ohio police officers, who claim heâs caused them âemotional distressâ by using their images after they staged a guns-drawn raid on his home last year that resulted in no criminal charges. The rapper says the case is baseless and heâs planning to counter-sue over damage done to his home.
NFT SETTLEMENT FOR 3LAU â Citing an imminent settlement, a Manhattan federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that the DJ and producer 3LAU refused to properly share the earnings from an $11.7 million NFT auction with a musical collaborator named Luna Aura.
SONY SUES TIKTOK CREATOR â Sony Music Entertainment relaunched a lawsuit against Trefuego (real name Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt), the creator of a popular TikTok song called â90mh,â over allegations that he prominently sampled a 1986 track by Japanese composer Toshifumi Hinata without âpaying a cent.â
NO CHARGES FOR NICK LACHEY â The 98 Degrees singer avoided criminal charges in Los Angeles in connection with a paparazzi run-in last March, in which he allegedly reached into a photogâs car and attempted to grab her phone. Under a deal with prosecutors, Lachey agreed to attend anger management classes and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
50 Cent has reached a settlement to end a lawsuit in which he accused a Miami medical spa of falsely suggesting that heâd had penis surgery, according to court documents filed Friday (March 24).
The rapper claims that Angela Kogan and her Perfection Plastic Surgery & MedSpa exploited an innocent photo heâd âgraciously agreedâ to take with her to imply that he was a client â and, more startlingly, that he had received penile enhancement surgery as part of his work.
But in a joint filing made Friday in Miami federal court, attorneys for both 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) and Kogan said they had âreached an agreement in principle to settle Mr. Jacksonâs claimsâ and were âin the process of preparing an agreement to finalize and memorializeâ the deal.
An attorney for 50 Cent did not immediately return a request for comment. A lawyer for Kogan declined to comment.
50 Cent sued Kogan in September, arguing that he took a photo with âsomeone he thought was a fanâ and had ânever consentedâ to the use of the image for commercial purposes in any form. He says Kogan not only posted the image to Instagram herself but also engineered an article on the website The Shade Room that used the post to make the âfalse insinuationâ that sheâd provided him with penile enhancement.
The article in question (âPenis Enhancements Are More Popular Than Ever & BBLs Are Dying Out: Cosmetic Surgery CEO Angela Kogan Speaks On Itâ) did not directly claim that Jackson had the surgery. But it allegedly said he was a âclientâ of the practice while repeatedly using the image of him with Kogan, leading Jacksonâs lawyers to say the âimplication was clear.â
âDefendantsâ actions have exposed Jackson to ridicule, caused substantial damage to his professional and personal reputation, and violated his right to control his name and image,â the starâs lawyers wrote at the time. They included social media comments in which users mocked the rapper, including one that âcrudelyâ said the rapper should be called â50 inch.â
Kogan strongly denied the allegations and immediately moved to dismiss the case, saying 50 Cent actually was a client and had consented to the use of the image as payment for the work he received. She argued it was just an âinnocuousâ use of the photo, not a direct suggestion that heâd endorsed the office.
But in December, Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr. denied Koganâs request to toss out the case, saying that 50 Cent might eventually be able to prove his allegations at trial.
âAs the proverbial saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words,â Scola wrote. âThis one in particular depicts a worldwide celebrity next to Kogan with MedSpaâs name repeated all throughout the background. The promotional value is evident.â
A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Donald Glover of ripping off his chart-topping Childish Gambino hit âThis Is Americaâ from an earlier song, ruling that the two tracks are âentirely different.â
A rapper named Kidd Wes (real name Emelike Nwosuocha) sued in 2021, claiming Gloverâs 2018 song was âpractically identicalâ to his own 2016 called âMade In America.â But in a decision issued Friday (March 24), U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said they were anything but.
âA cursory comparison with the challenged composition reveals that the content of the choruses is entirely different and not substantially similar,â the judge wrote.
In reaching that conclusion, Judge Marrero briefly explained how Nwosuochaâs lyrics were a âshort, simple, self-aggrandizing proclamation,â while Gloverâs song was about âwhat America means and how it is perceived.â
âMore could be said on the ways these songs differ, but no more airtime is needed to resolve this case,â the judge wrote.
Released in 2018, âThis Is Americaâ spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 and eventually won record of the year and song of the year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. It was accompanied by a critically acclaimed music video, directed by Hiro Murai, that touched on issues of race, mass shootings and police violence.
Nwosuocha sued in May 2021, claiming there were âunmissableâ similarities between the song and his own âMade In America,â including the âflowâ â the cadence, rhyming schemes, rhythm and other characteristics of hip hop lyrics.
âThe distinctive flow employed in defendant Gloverâs recorded performance of the infringing workâs chorus ⊠is unmistakably substantially similar, if not practically identical, to the distinct and unique flow that was employed by Nwosuocha,â his lawyers wrote at the time.
But in Fridayâs decision, Judge Marrero said the âflowâ and other similar characteristics âlack sufficient originalityâ to be protected by copyrights. And âno reasonable juryâ could find that the lyrics themselves were similar enough to constitute copyright infringement, the judge said.
The judge also ruled that the case failed for an even simpler reason: That Nwosuocha had failed to secure a federal copyright registration for the underlying composition to his song. âAccordingly, dismissal of Nwosuochaâs complaint is warranted.â
In a statement to Billboard, Nwosuochaâs attorneys Imran H. Ansari and LaâShawn N. Thomas said their client was âunderstandably disappointedâ and considering appealing the ruling. âHe stands by his music, creativity, and the independence of grassroots artists to create their own music, and receive credit where credit is due, without the fear of it being apportioned by another.â
An attorney for Glover did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision.
An R. Kelly victim who won a $4 million judgment against the singer will get first crack at pulling money from the singerâs royalty account with Sony Music â after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that her claims should take priority over a Chicago landlord thatâs also owed millions.
In a decision on Thursday (March 23), the state high court said Heather Williams was entitled to tap into Kellyâs account with Sony â valued at $1.5 million in 2020 â before Midwest Commercial Funding, a property manager that won its own separate $3.5 million ruling against Kelly over unpaid rent at a Chicago studio, can access it.
Williams filed a civil lawsuit against Kelly in 2019, alleging that when she was 16 years old, the singer lured her into his studio with promises that she could be in a music video and then repeatedly had sex with her as a minor. In 2020, she won a judgment of $4 million against Kelly on those accusations.
Thursdayâs decision upheld a lower courtâs earlier ruling that Williams â and not Midwest Commercial â should be given priority access to the royalties because she was the first to properly demand the money from Sony. That earlier ruling had ordered Sony to hand over to Williams âany funds currently in Kellyâs royalty account,â and to keep giving her his royalties until the judgment was paid off.
Disbursement of Kellyâs funds held by Sony has been paused while litigation has played out; itâs unclear how much money is now in the account. The company is not named in any lawsuits and is not accused of any wrongdoing. A rep for Sony declined to comment on the ruling or on the status of Kellyâs royalties.
Following Thursdayâs ruling, Kellyâs attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, tells Billboard that sheâs currently seeking to overturn the underlying $4 million judgment. She says the award to Williams â a so-called default judgment, meaning it was issued after Kelly failed to respond â ânever should have been entered.â
âIâve never in my career seen such a flouting of the rules to deny him even the opportunity to defend these civil cases, even when the courts were fully aware that Kelly was incarcerated, unrepresented at points, and facing multiple criminal indictments,â Bonjean says. âIndeed, much of these civil proceedings occurred without Kellyâs knowledge.â
But the $4 million judgment was already upheld once by an appeals court, and Bonjean said she faces an âuphill battleâ to overturn the judgment because of the actions of Kellyâs prior lawyers.
An attorney for Williams declined to comment on the litigation. An attorney for Midwest Commercial Funding did not return a request for comment.
Though Thursdayâs decision gave priority to Williams over Midwest Commercial Funding, itâs unclear whether sheâll enjoy similar priority over a slew of additional monetary penalties that Kelly owes to victims as a result of his federal criminal convictions.
After he was sentenced last summer to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking and racketeering in New York, Kelly was ordered to pay more than $480,000 in fines and restitution; after he was sentenced in February on child pornography charges in Illinois, another $42,000 was tacked on. Last fall, prosecutors confiscated nearly $30,000 in Kellyâs prison account in an effort to start paying those penalties.
A representative for the U.S. Attorneyâs Office in New York declined to comment on the impact of Thursdayâs ruling or the status of federal restitution efforts against Kelly. A rep for the Us Attorneyâs Office in Illinois did not immediately return a request for comment.
The rapper Afroman is facing a civil lawsuit from several Ohio police officers who say he caused them âemotional distressâ by using their images on social media and merchandise after they raided his home last year.
In a complaint filed March 13, seven members of the sheriffâs department in Adams County accused the rapper (real name Joseph Forman) of violating their rights by posting the images, which were snapped by surveillance cameras while they executed a search warrant with guns drawn on his home last August.
The deputies (Shawn D. Cooley, Justin Cooley, Michael D. Estep, Shawn S. Grooms, Brian Newland, Lisa Phillips and Randolph L. Walters, Jr.) claim they have been âsubjected to threats, including death threatsâ because of Afromanâs posts.
âAs a result of defendantsâ actions, plaintiffs have been subjected to ridicule, even in the further performance of their official duties, by members of the public,â a lawyer for the officers wrote. âIt has made it more difficult and even more dangerous for plaintiffs to carry out their official duties.â
In a response statement posted to Instagram on Thursday (March 23), the rapper said the officers were âcriminals caught in the act of vandalizing and stealing moneyâ who had âlost their right of privacy.â
âMy video footage is my property,â he said. âI used it to identify criminals, who broke into my house, stole my money and disconnected my home security system. I use my footage of my property to raise money to pay for the damages they done and to identify the criminals operating inside of the sheriff department.â
Later in the same statement, an attorney for the rapper said she was âplanning to counter sue for the unlawful raid, money being stolen, and for the undeniable damage this had on my clients family, career and property.â
According to a report by the Cincinnati Enquirer, deputies raided Afromanâs Winchester, Ohio home on Aug. 21, seizing $5,031 in cash and other evidence while executing a search warrant linked to suspicions of drug trafficking. No charges were ever filed and the money was later returned. At the time, the rapper publicly claimed that $400 was missing from the amount returned, but a state investigation eventually found that the discrepancy was due to a miscount, not missing cash.
After the search, Afroman repeatedly posted video and images of the raid on social media, using them to express outrage at alleged damage done to his property and at what he viewed as excessive use of force. One video showed officers searching his home under the title âwatch cops steal money.â He later used some of those images on t-shirts and other merchandise, including one that compared one of the officers to an obese character from the animated sitcom Family Guy.
In the complaint filed last week, the officers claimed those posts and merchandise amounted to an unauthorized commercial exploitation of their likeness, as well as an invasion of their privacy.
âSome of defendantsâ postings ⊠gave publicity to matters concerning the private lives of Plaintiffs which were not of legitimate concern to the public,â the officers wrote. âAs a result of defendantsâ unreasonable publicity of the private lives of plaintiffs, they have suffered embarrassment, ridicule, emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of reputation.â
Read the entire complaint here:
Lizzo may be â100% that bâh,â but she still has to do jury duty. The 34-year-old musician recently revealed in a pair of hilarious TikToks that she was summoned to perform her civic responsibilities in court, but was ultimately dismissed from serving as a juror before the case commenced.
In the first of her recent TikToks, the âTruth Hurtsâ singer documented her getting-ready process for jury duty, which she confessed she definitely wasnât looking forward to. âIâm actually really stressed about it,â Lizzo said while doing her skincare routine. âIâve just heard of people getting really gruesome cases. I have a really sensitive mind, I donât like hearing or seeing that. I will cry.â
After picking out a dress for the day, she described her look as âgiving law-abiding citizen.â She ended up changing her outfit, though, instead choosing to rep some of her own Yitty clothing in the courtroom.
âJust fulfilling my civil duty,â she captioned the video, which quickly filled up with amused comments.
âI would drop dead if I walked into jury duty and Lizzo was there,â wrote on fan, while another joked, âYour Honor sheâs slaying.â
The process, however, ended up being for naught. The Grammy winner was quickly dismissed from the selection process. âI GOT RELEASED FROM JURY DUTY YALL I WONDER WHY THO,â she captioned a second video, which featured a photo of Lizzo posing in front of the jury assembly room.
As one commenter pointed out, the star probably got let off the hook simply because celebrities sometimes âget dismissed because theyâll be a âdistractionâ to the trial.â For instance, Madonna was sent home from jury duty after just two hours for that reason, a court spokesperson said at the time.
See Lizzoâs TikToks about her brief stint as a potential juror below:
3LAU is close to a settlement to end a lawsuit claiming the DJ refused to properly share the earnings from an $11.7 million NFT auction with a musical collaborator.
Citing the fact that the two sides were ânear a settlement in principle,â a New York federal judge on Monday tentatively dismissed the lawsuit filed by musician Luna Aura over the huge proceeds from the much-publicized NFT auction of his album Ultraviolet.
Aura (real name Angela Anne Flores) launched the lawsuit last fall, claiming 3LAU (real name Justin Blau) offered her just $25,000 from, even though she said she was owed a 50 percent recording royalty from one of the songs on the album called âWalk Away.â
âDespite this financial windfall, defendants only offered Luna Aura a flat one-time payment of twenty-five thousand dollars as compensation in connection with the sale of Ultraviolet and âWalk Awayâ NFTs,â her lawyers wrote at the time. 3LAU strongly denied the allegations, with his manager saying they would âvigorously defend the lawsuit.â
Specific terms of the tentative settlement were not disclosed in public court records, and neither side provided additional details when contacted by Billboard. If the deal is not finalized within 30 days, the judge said the parties could reopen the case and resume litigating.
Even during 2021âs fever-dream craze for NFTs (non-fungible tokens), 3LAUâs Feb. 2021 auction stood out as notable. By selling 33 collectible tokens linked to his 3-year-old album Ultraviolet â the NFTs gave the buyers access to vinyl copies, unreleased music and other special experiences â the DJ-producer raked in $11.7 million. âIt was one of those moments in my life where I was like, âHoly sâ,ââ 3LAU told Billboard at the time. ââI think we just changed everything.ââ
But according to Auraâs November lawsuit, he didnât share those profits with a key person who helped create the album. She says her contract guaranteed her a 50% recording royalty on âWalk Away,â and that she also owned 30% of the underlying musical composition. The lawsuit did not specify exactly how much moneys he believed she was owed from the auction.
In a statement to Billboard after the case was filed, 3LAUâs manager Andrew Goldstone strongly denied the allegations: âThese claims are without merit, and we will vigorously defend the lawsuit that was just filed yesterday without any prior notice. There are no set standards for how to approach an NFT project like this, which involved much more than just the music. Justinâs team tried for months to reach a deal with Flores in good faith, but she stopped responding and instead chose to file a lawsuit.â
Goldstone declined to comment on Mondayâs order announcing the near-settlement. Auraâs attorney, Moish E. Peltz, did not return a request for comment.