Last week (Nov. 2), it was reported that a group of 25 investors were taking legal action against T.I. after allegedly getting tricked into putting up $1.3 million for cryptocurrency backed by the rapper. However, The Blast is now reporting that he's just as upset about the situation as the investors are, with T.I.'s lawyer Albert A. Chapar Jr. saying he didn't receive "a single dollar."
In 2017, Tip partnered with Atlanta-based businessman Ryan Felton to announce FLiK Token. Felton promised that each token would start at six cents each, and within 15 months the value of each token would rise to $14.99, a nearly 25,000 percent increase.
As expected, FLiK Token was too good to be true, with the initial suit alleging that T.I. and Felton used a "pump and dump" scheme where they boosted the price of tokens by using money given to them by investors. By August 2018, each of the tokens were worth less than a penny each. T.I. is claiming innocence, saying he was conned by Felton as much as everyone else.
“Tip is truly disheartened by the lawsuit," T.I.'s lawyer told The Blast. "Tip did not receive a single dollar from Felton or any of the money alleged to have been invested by the Plaintiffs, nor did he have any ownership of the company. Felton has made multiple misrepresentations as well as unauthorized statements about Tip’s involvement. The terribly unfortunate truth is that Felton misused and took advantage of Tip’s name and likeness, thereby victimizing both the investors and Tip.”
This isn't all that shocking, considering the original lawsuit pointed out that Felton claimed he got Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban as an investor on the project, going so far as to create "fake online posts on behalf of Mark Cuban in order to manipulate the value of FLiK Tokens." Investors are seeking $5 million in damages, accusing both T.I. and Felton of securities fraud.
T.I., however, says that the company used his name illegally, having only ever had minimal interactions with Felton early on about possibly being an investor. Those talks fell apart almost immediately, and since Felton's site continued to use his likeness without proper permission, he is now weighing his legal options.
