Damon Dash Takes Huge Financial Loss in Recent Legal Battle
Damon Dash is no stranger to controversy. The music executive has been in the news in recent years for a series of legal issues and money troubles. He’s been sued several times. His latest lawsuit resulted in him being ordered to pay nearly $1 million.
Damon Dash ordered to pay hefty sum for film debacle
Dash has been in court over issues regarding rights to a film he released. According to TMZ, the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder and former friend of JAY-Z has to cough up $800,000 to the director and producers of a movie a jury found guilty of Dash trying to claim as his own.
Film director Josh Webber and Muddy Water Pictures, who are responsible for the film Dear Frank starring actors Brian White, Claudia Jordan, Nick Turturro, Lil Durk and Columbus Short, sued Dash for copyright infringement and defamation, alleging Dash tried to get a deal for the film and advertise the movie as his own. The case revealed that Dash even went as far as sending promotional material of the movie to outlets like BET. In the process, Dash changed the title of the film to The List.
Dash was brought on board by Webber and co. to direct the film in 2016. They claim things took a turn for the worse when Dash began showing up to high on drugs. Ultimately, they fired Dash from the project altogether in 2018. But Dash claimed in his defense that they continued to shoot the movie at his Sherman Oaks property and used his equipment before stealing the footage to work on it without him.
The jury didn’t side with Dash. Webber and co’s attorney told the media outlet they are determined to get their clients their settlement.
Someone else accused the hip hop mogul of something similar and released a tell all book about it
Webber and co. aren’t the only people who accuse Dash of having shady business practices. According to author Edwyna Brooks, she had a similar encounter with Dash when she went into business with him to help transition her four-part Mafietta book series to film. Dash was hired as the film’s director but was fired after Brooks found his work to be unsatisfactory. She accused Dash of wasting time and money intended for the production of their film on his personal projects.
Despite being fired, Brooks says that Dash continued to promote the film without her consent, even going as far as trying to have the film released on iTunes and have it available for online streaming on his film company’s website. A trailer was even released for the film and posted to Dash’s website.
She sued Dash for copyright infringement in 2019 and a judge ruled in Brooks’ favor and she was awarded $300,000. Brooks detailed the ordeal in a book, Brooks vs. Dash: The Unauthorized Taking of Mafietta.
This is the latest of Damon Dash’s legal troubles
Aside from the current legal trouble, Dash has appeared on We TV’s Growing Up Hip Hop alongside his son, Boogie. On the show, Boogie’s alcohol addiction was a heavy focus on the show. At one point, Dash put barriers in place during filming to prevent Boogie from having access to alcohol, but he alleges We TV went behind his back and made alcohol accessible. Dash sued We TV, claiming that they reneged on a promise not to allow Boogie to drink alcohol on the show.
He alleged the network used Boogie’s addiction to increase ratings for the reality show as part of a forced storyline. As a result, he says his family suffered emotional distress.
Dash also had issues with his ex-wife, fashion designer Rachel Roy, over child custody issues and child support, resulting in his arrest for failure to pay the support owed. He also had money trouble with film producer, Lee Daniels.
