Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Teton Films
Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash has had enough of Lee Daniels allegedly giving him the runaround, and now Dash is charging forward with his lawsuit against the The Butler director.
It was back in August that Dash first filed a summons explaining why he believed he was entitled to credits, ownership and $2 million in compensation from Daniels’ latest works.
According to Dash, Daniels has failed to pay back a $2 million investment that Dash made more than 10 years ago.
On Sept. 22, Dash followed up by filing a complaint in New York Superior Court.
According to the legal documents, Dash has been waiting to see a return on his investment for quite some time but Daniels has allegedly been avoiding him.
Dash claims that he invested $2 million in Daniels’ film The Woodsman, which was released in 2005.
According to the hip-hop mogul, he has written agreements and an oral contract with the director that gave him executive producer credits.
In addition to executive producer credits, Dash was allegedly supposed to receive 50 percent of rights on the film and a guarantee that his investment would be repaid with interest, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dash also said he put a lot of time and energy into ensuring the film was successful by getting his celebrity pals, like rapper Kanye West, to perform at venues where the film’s ads would be prominently displayed.
The film was successful, but Dash claims he was given another offer – not his $2 million investment back.
“The terms of his offer were as follows: Lee asked Damon to forego [sic] seeking repayment of the $2,000,000.00 from The Woodsman proceeds, and instead, roll-over the $2,000,000.00 into another one of Lee’s films, which was eventually to be produced and distributed under the name Shadowboxer,” the complaint states.
Dash claims he made yet another written agreement with Daniels and moved forward with reinvesting the $2 million into another film.
Unfortunately, Shadowboxer was not a great success and Dash claims it was partially because he was asked to “take a back seat” on the film’s promotion.
He also claimed he was not able to get an accounting on that film either.
That’s when another offer allegedly rolled in.
According to Dash, this offer promised “prompt payment on the personal guaranty” in addition to “producer credit and partial ownership rights to any and all of Lee’s projects – i.e, current and future TV shows and/or films – until Lee paid Damon back the $2,00,000.00 plus interest that Damon had originally invested with Lee.”
If this is true, Daniels will still owe Dash money and future producer credits since the $2 million is still outstanding.
With Daniels’ new show, Empire, in the works, this could equal a huge payout for the hip-hop mogul.
According to Daniels’ legal team, however, all the allegations are false.
“Regrettably, it’s easy to make allegations,” Daniels’ legal team responded, according to last week’s report by The Hollywood Reporter. “Proving the allegations is a different story, and the precise reason why the judicial system exists. Mr. Daniels looks forward to the Court’s scrutiny of the merits of Mr. Dash’s misguided claims.”
