This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News Business News Legal
50 Cent to receive $14.5 million in settlement with law firm
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 6 December 2016
50 Cent has secured a reported $14.5 million settlement by bringing to an end a legal dispute with his former law firm, according to Forbes. The rapper sued Garvey Schubert Barer last year, accusing the company of bungling a case brought against him by headphones maker Sleek Audio, in which he was ordered to hand over $16 million.
This all goes back to 50 Cent’s attempts to break into the overpriced headphones market in 2010. He entered into a deal with Sleek to produce a range of headphones under the brand Sleek By 50. But when that deal fell apart, he set up a new company, SMS Audio, and pressed ahead.
He claimed that GSB had told him that he would be able to produce his own headphones without infringing on Sleek’s intellectual property. But when Sleek sued, a judge did not agree, ruling in the tech company’s favour.
Suing the law firm last year, 50 Cent said that GSB had made “numerous failures” during the case, including “its inexplicable decision not to call technical and damages experts to rebut expert testimony offered by Sleek”.
GSB denied any wrongdoing, but has now seemingly agreed to hand over a multi-million dollar settlement to the rapper. In return, he absolves the company of any guilt, providing a statement through noted legal publication Instagram.
“I retract my earlier statements about the legal services provided to me by the law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer”, he said via the social network yesterday. “The law firm and I have settled our dispute and I consider the issue closed”.
The payment will still have to be approved by the bankruptcy court – 50 Cent having declared himself insolvent last year, after he was ordered to pay Lastonia Leviston damages of $5 million for leaking a sex tape featuring her and rival rapper Rick Ross. He was subsequently ordered to pay additional damages of $2 million – though under a deal approved by the bankruptcy court in July, he agreed to hand over $6 million in total.
Sleek Audio is among creditors still owed money by 50 Cent, in addition to Leviston. In his bankruptcy deal, he agreed to hand over $7.4 million to creditors right away, before setting aside $2 million per year for the next five years. The settlement from GSB may speed up that process.
