Over the past year, Belcalis Almanzar, better known by her stage name, Cardi B, has become one of the fastest growing mainstream music personalities in America. She's been able to remain herself for the most part while becoming a public figure and household name and with that success comes newly formed enemies, haters, and of course lawsuits.
This past Thursday, Cardi B's former manager, Klenord Raphael, also known as Shaft, filed a $10 million lawsuit against the artist claiming that he discovered the Bronx-born rapper but was phased out of her career right before her increased mainstream popularity.
According to Cardi B's legal representation, Paul LiCalsi, a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP, Shaft signed Cardi B at 20% commission rate and also signed her to an outside company that gets access to 50% of her music royalties from Atlantic Records, 50% of her music copyrights, and 25% of all of her additional earnings.
Shaft is suing Cardi on claims that she ditched him for another manager which resulted in a breach of contract and for defamation of character for her allegations that he "robbed her."
This is what Cardi's lawyer has to say about the lawsuit, "After a full investigation of the facts, we will be responding to these allegations in detail in court. But even on its face, Shaft’s claim raises a huge question. For a hefty commission, a manager promises to carefully counsel and guide an artist in her or his career. In exchange, the law imposes a high fiduciary duty on the manager to always act in the artist’s best interest, not engage in conflicts of interest, not overreach, and not self-deal."
Source: boxden.com