50 Cent Sues Attorneys for $75 Million

Summary: Rapper 50 Cent strikes back at the attorneys who lost his case.

You can get rich or die trying. Or you can choose option “c”: sue your attorneys.

Rapper 50 Cent is taking his recent legal losses out on his attorneys at Garvey Schubert Barer (“GSB”). The firm represented 50 Cent, originally known as Curtis James Jackson III, in his case against Sleek Radio last year. Last October the rapper lost the Sleek suit and was ordered to pay $18.4 million. The ticked-off star is now suing his former law firm for $75 million in damages.

The battle with Sleek was highly publicized and contentious. 50 Cent initially entered into a business venture with the company to sell headphones called “Sleek by 50,” trying to capitalize off the success that Dr. Dre had from his “Beats by Dre” headphones. But Sleek missed deadlines and never launched the product.

Fitty responded by forming his own company, SMS Audio. The rapper claims his lawyers told him he would not be infringing on Sleek’s intellectual property rights. Not surprisingly, Sleek filed arbitration against 50 Cent for marketing his own headphones. The arbitrator ruled in favor of Sleek and 50 Cent had to declare bankruptcy this summer.

The rapper is blaming poor representation for his losses. His new lawsuit, filed in Connecticut bankruptcy court, claims, “GSB and attorneys Beckner, Moon and Trinchero failed to employ the requisite knowledge and skill necessary to confront the circumstances of the case.” The complaint alleges that GSB had “numerous failures” and made the “inexplicable decision not to call technical and damages experts to rebut expert testimony offered by Sleek…”

Craig Weiner is a partner at Robins Kaplan, the firm that’s representing 50 Cent in his bankruptcy. According to Weiner, the rapper only filed suit against GSB after it was determined a settlement couldn’t be reached. Per Weiner, 50 Cent “became saddled with liabilities exceeding $18 million, not including the millions he spent in legal fees,” which is why he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July.

In addition to his bankruptcy and the suits against Sleek and BCG, 50 Cent was involved in a different suit last year, against a woman whose sex tape he put on the internet. The rapper ultimately lost the case.

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Source: MTV.com

Additional source: Business Insider

Photo: telegraph.co.uk