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NFL star Antonio Brown is facing a $500,000 lawsuit from Florida-based Secure the Bag Entertainment. Here’s the latest.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and defamation over an agreement the company signed with Brown in July 2022. It also alleges that Brown submitted false expenses to the tune of $178,000 and sold a fake expensive watch to STB owner Ryan Kane for $160,000. The two met after Brown appeared on an episode of the ‘We In Miami’ podcast, which is also owned by Kane. Following that meeting, Kane says he offered to sign Brown to STB as a recording artist.
“The parties negotiated the terms of the contract, which was executed with an effective date of July 13, 2022. Upon execution o the contract and the inducement and guarantee, STB paid Brown $150,000 pursuant to the contract terms. Almost immediately after the contract was signed and the $150,000 paid, Brown began behaving in a manner inconsistent with both the letter and the spirit of the contract and became adversarial towards STB and Kane,” the lawsuit continues.
The Antonio Brown lawsuit also details some of the behavior the NFL star engaged in as threatening.
According to the lawsuit, Brown recorded a song entitled “Cracked” that features a guest appearance by a world famous rap artist. Kane alleges that he discussed releasing this song extensively with Brown as an STB artist, how STB would promote the song, and work on a music video.
“Brown told Kane that the featured artist wanted $250,000 for the feature and video and that he would only deal with Brown–not Kane,” the lawsuit reads. “Brown pressured Kane and insisted that STB pay the $250,000 to CAB.” Kane says he wrote the check for $250,000 but “immediately realized this was not the proper way to conduct business and within minutes of giving the check to Brown, told him he was going to issue a stop payment.”
“Brown responded by telling Kane that he was going to the bank in the morning and the threatened that ‘the check better be good,’” it continues. “When the check was rejected because of the stop payment, Brown publicly made defamatory statements on social media about STB writing bad checks and not paying their bills.”
Kane later reached out to the featured artist and learned the asking price was $150K instead of $250K. Brown attempted to defraud STB out of $100,000 in excess of what the featured artist was accepting for his services.