In an interview with Dr. Taje Moreno on The CEO Show, Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash opened up about the current state of his finances.
When the topic of child support came up, Dash appeared as though he wasn't interested in discussing it, then shared why he's struggled to pay it in the past.
“While I’m investing in something else, I might not be making the money and the profit, so I can’t afford to pay out what I was when I was having EBITA [earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization] of $8 million a year,” he said around the 11:40 point of the interview above. "So you can’t judge how much I’m gonna pay out by how much I made 20 years ago.”
The 52-year-old said that in recent years he's been forced to "start [a] new company from scratch without any money to start it with," which was further complicated by "the recession" and the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I had to do it [by] rubbing two sticks together. So I can’t pay out three or four hundred thousand a year in child support, ‘cause I ain’t making that," he continued. "But I’m not ashamed of that because I have things to show for it, but it hasn’t profited yet. I’m like a proud broke—but it ain’t broke, because I have things to show for it.”
Dash said that the amount of money he was ordered to pay in child support to his ex-wife Rachel Roy, whom he divorced in 2009, was calculated based on his earnings at the time, including one of Roy's fashion lines. That line is controlled by her, he said, though his ownership stake in the line was a big deciding factor in what he would have to pay here.
"I had to flip," he added, suggesting his ex-wife was getting the money he was making and should thus pay for their children's expenses. "You can’t be mad at me and make me feel bad if the money that I had to give the kids, you got, and you still expecting me to pay that while I’m investing and losing money for years."
In November 2019, Dame Dash was arrested for failing to pay child support. He filed legal documents around the time that indicated he was broke and unable to pay the $2,400 he was required to pay as part of a lawsuit. He argued that he shouldn't have to pay $6,000 a month in child support because she makes much more money than he does now. He claimed he only made $56K in 2018, while Roy took in roughly $500K. In December 2019, he was said to owe as much as $950,000 in back child support.
