Rhuigi Villaseñor's $10 Million Lawsuit: Here's What To Know
A lawsuit filed by a minority stake holder in Rhude alleges that Villaseñor mishandled Rhude's funds for his own personal gain.
On Monday, a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles’ United States District Court was filed against Rhude founder Rhuigi Villaseñor. The lawsuit was filed by Villaseñor’s business partner George Robertson, who owns 20% of the Rhude brand. According to the lawsuit, Robertson was a “well-known music agent and fashion entrepreneur” who Villaseñor brought in as a partner in 2016 after Rhude started gaining popularity. Robertson got a 20% stake in the brand after he invested $50,000 to develop the label at the end of 2016. Villaseñor owns the other 80%.
The lawsuit alleges that Villaseñor mishandled Rhude’s money by siphoning off millions in revenue for his own personal expenses, using Rhude’s employees to work on collaborative projects that only brought money back to Villaseñor, attempting to cut out his business partner due to jealousy, and more. The damning allegations within this lawsuit come just weeks after Villaseñor ended his role as the creative director of the Swiss luxury house Bally, a position he only held for a little over a year.
Villaseñor has not commented on the lawsuit that was first reported by the Los Angeles Times this morning. He did however make an Instagram post sharing the date of Rhude’s upcoming presentation at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday with the caption, “Come to my show if you wanna talk.”
Complex looked through the complaint filed against Villaseñor. Here’s what we found.
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