That court battle against hip-hop heavyweight Fat Joe just reached a new level, but his lawyer says it's all a sideshow. Terrance Dixon, a former hired hand of the Bronx-bred rapper, and his attorney Tyrone Blackburn filed a shocking $20 million civil RICO lawsuit earlier this week in federal court. They lobbed a slew of allegations at the Terror Squad leader. From accusations of forced labor and financial fraud to blatant efforts to intimidate and coerce witnesses, the lawsuit reads like the plot of some Hollywood potboiler.
In a statement, Fat Joe's top attorney, Joe Tacopina, said he was fighting mad. "This lawsuit is an obvious act of retaliation," he said, "a cowardly attempt to misdirect attention from the civil suit that we filed docketed first.
Check out this Article
Fat Joe, ne Joseph Cartagena, long ago had the first offensive word in this battle, even as early as April. Dixon countersued him and Blackburn for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. What we are witnessing today, Tacopina said, is nothing if not legal whiplash by a disgruntled ex-employee and a headline-seeking lawyer.
"We didn't just sue some upset former employee trying to rehash a bogus claim from 15 years ago; we sued the lawyer orchestrating the whole thing," Tacopina said. " Blackburn has an extensively documented history of using the courts to harass defendants and generate media attention."
Indeed, Tacopina notes that several federal judges have already formally criticized Blackburn for his behavior, including filing a series of inflammatory lawsuits and launching personal attacks in legal filings. One judge has sent Blackburn to the Southern District's disciplinary committee.
The original flashpoint? In March, Dixon and Blackburn filed a written demand for cash from Fat Joe, claiming that Dixon was an uncredited ghostwriter and vocalist on some of Joe's work. When that demand was refused, the threats escalated, finally erupting in this new fusillade of sordid (and, he contends, made-up) charges.
According to Dixon's complaint, Fat Joe ran a so-called "Cartagena Enterprise," where "emotional abuse, humiliation, and manipulation" was par for the course. But that line of reasoning is not one that Tacopina is buying, and neither, he says, should the public.
"Law enforcement knows the extortionate demand at the core of this scheme," he added. "The allegations made by Petra are vehemently denied by Mr. Cartagena, whose lawyer, David O. Markus, said in a statement they are "complete fabrications" and "lies made to try to extort money from him."
Fat Joe called foul, referring to the entire incident as "a ridiculous, elaborate scam." He maintains that this is all merely an attempt at extortion via a combination of a former hype man and a courtroom opportunist.
As the legal drama intensifies, one thing is quite clear: Fat Joe is not giving up without a fight. "I'm suing to get to the bottom of their wrongdoing," he said. "And I'm confident that the facts will reveal the truth."
0 Comments