‘Love & Hip Hop’: Here’s Why A1 Bentley Is Being Sued By an Artist for Fraud
A1 Bentley is making headlines, and this time, it doesn’t have to do with his wife and Love & Hip Hop co-star, Lyrica Anderson. A musical artist is claiming in a lawsuit that the music producer and television personality conned her family out of thousands of dollars.
A1 Bentley and Lyrica Anderson on ‘Love & Hip Hop’
Both Bentley and Anderson have starred in the last few seasons of Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood. Since their introduction on the show, both of them have had big roles on the show, particularly in the most recent seasons.
In their early seasons on the show, the couple stayed away from most drama. The biggest drama in their storylines was the ongoing feud between their mothers, Lyrica Garrett and Pam Bentley.
But the couple found themselves in their own drama beginning in season 5 when infidelity rumors began to plague both of them. Since then, their relationship troubles have been documented on the show. The couple is currently separated.
Here’s everything that we know so far about the lawsuit
An 18-year-old artist and her father are claiming in the lawsuit that Bentley did not make good on helping her become a star. Carley Marie Masten (aka C’Marie) and Jeffrey Masten say that they lost most of their money in the process.
According to court documents that were obtained by The Blast, they are suing Bentley and Sound Entertainment, accusing him of “contract, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and conversation.” The Mastens state in the suit that they thought Bentley was “a music producer with a reputation as a credible professional with hit songs to his name and was seen as an establish star in the entertainment industry. Defendant Bentley’s credits include songs with renowned artists of the likes of Usher, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla Sign, Wiz Khalifa, and G-Eazy.”
However, they allege that he “quickly transitioned from star producer to one who began to lose his luster and become so desperate to make money he no longer cares about doing quality work, just stealing money from inexperienced people hoping to get into the music industry (as the Plaintiffs both were when they met Defendant Bentley.)”
The two allege that Bentley “induced” 18-year-old C’Marie to sign “a producer contract” in August 2018 and that he would “would produce, write and record songs for C’Marie and ‘promote and develop her career as well.’” C’Marie stated that she was promised a record deal as well but it never came to fruition.
Overall, C’Marie says she paid Bentley $376,000 and that he “took advantage of her father’s love for her and desire to make her dreams come true,” spending his “life savings” for this. The suit says A1 promised the money would go toward C’Marie’s “12-song album, 3 music videos, concert tour, and radio promotion.”
The Mastens say other promises did not come true
Aside from C’Marie’s promised album and record deal, the Mastens also say that C’Marie was promised to be the opening act on a T-Pain tour. She didn’t get the opening act. Anderson ended up being the opening act that the Mastens believes that Bentley always planned for his wife to be the opening act instead of her.
Another accusation in the suit is that C’Marie was promised to appear in Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood alongside Bentley, but that never happened. Altogether, the Mastens are suing for the $376,000 they paid him as well as $1.5 million in damages.
Bentley has yet to make a public statement about the lawsuit.
