Rapper Kanye West has reason to celebrate as a former business manager who had sued him for over $4 million has dropped the lawsuit.
The Blast previously reported that West was being sued for allegedly failing to pay monthly fees, which he and the ex-business manager, Thomas St. John, had agreed upon. St. John claimed that the rapper got “aggressive” with him at the time during a business meeting.
Kanye West’s Former Business Manager Drops Lawsuit
West is free from at least one legal drama. The rapper’s former business manager, St. John, has decided to drop his lawsuit with prejudice. This means that St. John would not be able to file this case again in the future.
According to the legal document obtained by The Blast, the date of dismissal was recorded as January 2, 2024.
In St. John’s lawsuit filed in 2022, he claimed Kanye asked him to offer business management, accounting, and taxation services in 2022. According to the statement, St. John, who serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TSJ, had “already been introduced to Yeezy’s business associates as ‘Ye’s business manager’” before March 30, 2022.
Adding, “Mr. St. John had already developed a business strategy for Yeezy’s negotiations with one of (Kanye’s) key business partners. By April 12, 2022, representatives of Mr. West introduced Mr. St. John to business associates as the ‘CFO of Donda,’ another one of Mr. West’s entities.”
The rapper dropped St. John After Agreeing To Work Together For 18 Months
St. John noted that they were authorized to begin working on a strategy for West at the time after receiving all of the rapper’s financial records.
The company, which had allegedly turned down multiple opportunities because of West, agreed with the rapper that they would be given 18 months to work for him after initially requesting two guaranteed years.
“In addition to the economic costs and risks associated with committing to Defendants as clients, Plaintiff also needed assurance that Defendants would not simply walk away from the business relationship. Mr. St. John, however, proposed to compromise on an agreement with a minimum term of 18 months,” the lawsuit read at the time.
After signing the deal, St. John claims they were retained “to act as Kanye’s ‘most senior financial advisor’” and would be a $300,000 monthly retainer fee.
According to St. John, West didn’t hold up his end of the deal and allegedly called for a meeting shortly after signing the contract to reveal his intention to cut ties with the company.
“At this meeting, Mr. West became heated and aggressive. He screamed at Mr. St. John and made clear he no longer wanted to work with (St. John.) When confronted by the 18-month commitment that had just been made, Mr. West stated words to the effect of ‘The 18-month term was bulls—‘ and ‘You’re insane for even thinking I would stick to it.’”
Kanye West Has Other Legal Issues
Although he’s free of his legal battle with his former manager, West has other legal problems, including a lawsuit filed against him by a former contractor over his Malibu Mansion.
The “All of the Lights” rapper was sued by Tony Saxon, for labor code violations and allegedly owing more than $1 million in unpaid wages and damages.
Working as a “project manager, caretaker, and 24/7 security,” Saxon claims he put in 16-hour days and slept on the floor in order to realize West’s dream of a self-sufficient house that looked like a “bomb shelter from the 1910s.”
According to Saxon, West ignored all his safety concerns and terminated him from his job in November 2021 for refusing to remove the electrical wiring and windows from the building.
“We were going to be gutting all of that out and sort of building [West] a Bat Cave,” which the rapper allegedly said he could use to “hide from the Clintons” and “the Kardashians,” Saxon told NBC News in an interview.
“[West] wanted no electricity. He only wanted plants. He only wanted candles. He only wanted battery lights. And he just wanted to have everything open and dark,” he claimed.
Saxton added, “You can’t keep food in that house because you had no refrigerator left. You had no windows. I had seagulls flying in.”
The rapper plans on selling the Malibu Mansion for $53 million after purchasing it in 2021 for $57 million because the concrete walls are “too gray” for his taste.