The Bronx-born rap legend Fat Joe has just dropped a blistering amended complaint against lawyer Tyrone Blackburn and his ex-hype man, Terrance Dixon, alleging they set him up and shook him down in a savage extortion plot layered in lies, intimidation, and a slimy smear campaign that cost him at least $10 million, he says.
And that’s when the pair allegedly mounted an all-out assault on his name and career, spreading what he says is entirely spurious information, including shocking claims related to sex trafficking, statutory rape, and violent threats. Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, recently told The Post. All of it, he says, was a carefully orchestrated maneuver to shake him down for a multimillion-dollar settlement.
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Fat Joe’s business deals and endorsements supposedly fell like dominoes once the accusations were made public. A $30,000 TV appearance deal for an appearance at primetime? Gone. The advertising revenue on his podcast, Joe & Jada, fell by more than 30% when three major sponsors exited, one was a $675,000 acquisition, another for $400,000, and the third for a $40,000 agreement.
More painful yet: Talks to sell his men’s grooming brand, Rewind It, collapsed. Three large retailers flamed out, and one deal alone was worth $7 million. Total estimated losses? More than $10 million, the rapper says.
But Joe isn’t interested only in clearing his name, but he’s pointing fingers at what he calls dirty legal games. He says Blackburn and Dixon threatened to “take (his)” along with putting the fear of God into him by leveraging federal sex-trafficking charges. A move Fat Joe’s legal team is now painting as theatrical extortion.
And Blackburn’s reputation doesn’t exactly help his case. Federal judges in the past few years have repeatedly castigated him for “unethical” tactics, filing lawsuits stuffed with “salacious allegations” and laced with “inappropriate ad hominem attacks.” One judge added pointedly that his complaints were replete with “inaccurate statements of law.”
Well, things got a whole lot wilder last June, when Blackburn was arrested on felony assault charges, accused of running over a process server with his car as he tried to avoid being served legal papers in this very case.
Joe’s complaint also cites a police report between Blackburn and his ex-girlfriend’s best friend, who said he sent her “violent and threatening text messages” that “cause her to be genuinely in fear for her physical safety”; Blackburn then went to his ex-girlfriend’s house, where police “informed him to leave the residence and not return,” according to the complaint. “She has no idea what Mr. Blackburn might be capable of,” the report quotes her as saying.
Now, Fat Joe’s had enough of playing defense. He is seeking no less than $15 million in damages, as well as an injunction and all other available legal relief. In short, he wants justice, not just a semblance of it; he wants it loud.
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