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Former Drake manager sentenced to jail over unpaid taxes
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 12 April 2018
The co-founder of Drake’s former management company has been sentenced to eight months in prison for failing to pay his taxes. Derrick Lawrence was also ordered to pay the $600,000 he still owes the US government.
Aspire Music Group co-founder Lawrence pleaded guilty last year of failing to file tax returns between 2009 and 2011 on earnings of $2.2 million.
At a sentencing hearing earlier this week, reports New York Daily News, he told the judge: “It was never a disrespect to the government. It was a lack of knowledge. It’s my fault for not following up with my accountants who I hired”.
In 2008, Aspire signed Drake to a management deal, which lasted until 2011. Since 2014, the company has been involved in various legal wranglings over allegedly unpaid money from Drake’s label Cash Money Records.
In 2014, producer Jas Prince sued Aspire, before switching his attention to Cash Money Records, claiming he was owed money from Drake’s music under a profit share agreement. Last year, Aspire then also sued Cash Money claiming it was owed tens of millions of dollars by the label.
