After Adidas severed ties with Kanye in late 2022 following antisemitic comments he made, they were able to freeze $75 million in his accounts held by West’s Yeezy brand.
This was revealed in unsealed court documents obtained by Law360, which show that Adidas originally filed the case on Nov. 11, which was approved by US District Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York. Caproni wrote, "[T]he court is satisfied that there is a risk that Yeezy will remove or dissipate assets if notice of this request for attachment is given to Yeezy."
Earlier this week, Adidas requested a New York federal court to uphold the decision as the sportswear giant continues to work on an agreement in private arbitration.
Just days after Adidas froze the assets, Kanye spoke about the situation in an interview on Timcast IRL, where he stated, "The reason why I'm announcing that I'm running for president is I want the FCC to look at my money. If they actually see, I was looking at my money, and there might have been a possibility that Adidas wouldn't have went into JP Morgan and froze my account and put a $75 million hold on four different accounts."
Kanye continued, "I went from being a multi-billionaire to not even being able to use my Apple Pay four nights ago. I couldn't use my Apple Pay because somehow Adidas was able to legally go in and freeze my money, and when I see this, I think, well, if this could happen to me, this could happen to other Americans, and for what? You know this can happen to an American that didn't even steal anything, that didn't even hurt anyone. This could just happen to you for saying the wrong idea out loud."
Source: Law360
