Ye is facing a $4.5 million lawsuit from his former business manager.
According to legal documents obtained by The Blast and TMZ, celebrity accountant and business manager Thomas St. John filed a lawsuit against the artist formerly known as Kanye West over an alleged breach of their agreed monthly fees. During a recent meeting between the two of them, St. John claimed that Ye got “aggressive” with him and has since stopped paying the money he agreed to pay.
Per the lawsuit, the business manager was approached by the multi-hyphenate earlier this year to provide business management, taxation services, and accounting. After they met in March to discuss doing business together, Ye started to introduce people to St. John as the “CFO of Donda,” a different company to the Yeezy brand. St. John requested a two-year guarantee to work with the Yeezy company.
“In addition to the economic costs and risks associated with committing to Defendants as clients, Plaintiff also needed assurance that Defendants would not simply walk away from the business relationship. Mr. St. John, however, proposed to compromise on an agreement with a minimum term of 18 months,” the lawsuit reads. Eventually, they agreed upon an 18-month period, but the company St. John works for was forced to two down two other potentially lucrative opportunities in order to work with Ye.
Per the agreement signed between the two parties, St. John and his company was “retained to act as Kanye’s 'most senior financial advisor'" and as Chief Financial Officer. The agreement was a monthly retainer fee of $300,000. Just weeks after they signed a contract, Ye called a meeting to drop the deal.
“At this meeting, Mr. West became heated and aggressive. He screamed at Mr. St. John and made clear he no longer wanted to work with (St. John),” reads the suit. “When confronted by the 18-month commitment that had just been made, Mr. West stated words to the effect of ‘The 18-month term was bullshit’ and ‘You’re insane for even thinking I would stick to it.’” Ye has failed to pay the remainder of the contract, which consisted of 15 months of payments.
“As a direct and proximate result of Kanye’s breach, (the company) has been damaged in the amount of the unpaid fee balance of $900,000 as of October 12, 2022,” the lawsuit continued. “It will continue to be damaged for an additional amount of $3,600,000 for fees owed from October 2022 to November 2023, through the remainder of the minimum 18-month terms of the Agreement.”
