According to court documents, 50 Cent was taken advantage of by an executive who covertly embezzled millions from the rapper’s champagne and cognac business.
Curtis Jackson, the Queens-born rapper, opened his Branson Cognac in 2018 and Le Chemin du Roi, or The King’s Path, champagne in 2019 through his company, Sire Spirits.
The alcohol isn’t cheap, with cognac costing $200 or greater and bubbly costing $150 or more.
Embed from Getty ImagesAccording to Manhattan Federal Court records, the company’s director of Brand Management, Mitchell Green, was raising prices and receiving payoffs from distributors to the tune of $2.2 million in so-called “agency fees.”
Green fessed up to the arrangement in February 2020,“after two years of embezzling from Sire Spirits,” because he was being blackmailed by a person who threatened to expose him. The company fired him and took him to arbitration.
According to court papers, an arbitrator found Green financially responsible for the cash he pocketed, as well as another $948,096 paid to a wholesaler, and instructed him to pony up another $2.7 million in attorneys fees, costs, and damages, for a combined total of $6.2 million.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn June, a Manhattan judge validated the arbitrator’s decision.