Damon Dash Lawsuit: Hip Hop Mogul Sues Filmmaker Lee Daniels for $25 Million
Damon Dash filed a $25 million lawsuit against Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels.
The hip-hop mogul claims that he invested millions into Daniels' movie projects, but he never received proper credit or a return on his dividends.
Dash, who co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay Z in 1996, claims that he made significant investments in six of the filmmaker's movies, including "The Butler," which starred Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey and earned over $100 million.
Dash also says he invested $2 million in Daniels' "The Woodsman" starring Kevin Bacon.
Now he is suing Daniels for "unpaid principal, interest and royalties" and because his name was left out of producer credits on the films, according to the New York Post.
"It's very upsetting because there was a certain point where Lee was up-and-coming and Damon, as a music mogul and producer, really saw potential," Dash's lawyer Natraj Bhushan told the Post. "Lee went on to a very successful career and all Damon wants is what he's rightfully entitled to."
In addition to the "Precious" director, Dash is also suing Los Angeles talent manager Simone Sheffield for $1 million for defamation of character. Dash claims that Simone, the owner of Canyon Entertainment, spread false rumors to others in the entertainment industry about him being over the verge of incarceration.
The suit says Sheffield claimed Dash was "the subject of a looming incarceration when no such incarceration ever took place."
Bhushan described Sheffield, who received producer credits in "The Butler," as an "obstacle" in Dash's business relationship with the highly acclaimed director, reports The Guardian.
Neither Sheffield nor Daniels has publicly spoken out about the lawsuits.
Dash was recently evicted from an upstate New York vacation home because he was $162,000 behind on rent. He lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
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