The hip-hop trio says he was “tricked into millions of dollars” through excessive commission and mistreatment.
Migos is suing his long-time talent attorney for allegedly taking “excessive fees” without a proper written agreement and failing to disclose conflicts of interest arising from his representation of his label.
Damien Granderson has been sued by Quavious Marshall (Quavo), Kiari Cephus (Offset) and Kirsnick Ball (Takeoff) along with his current firm, Granderson Des Rochers, and his former firm, Davis Shapiro, claiming they were “stolen and cheated on millions of dollars “from the people they trusted to look after their best interests.
“Granderson was working with Migos from the group’s earliest days, including on the 2014 deal for 300 Entertainment to distribute Migos’ debut album Yung Rich Nation,” attorney Bryan Freedman writes in the complaint, published below. “At the time, the group members were in their teens and early twenties, and had nothing but a high school education.”
Freedman argues that Granderson saw them as “easy targets” and convinced them to reach a unilateral agreement for the benefit of a higher-priority client, Quality Control Music. (QCM had signed the Migos for a recording deal in 2013). The attorney did not disclose the conflict, according to the lawsuit, and instigated a legal dispute with 300 to transfer the group to Capitol Records.
“Granderson later exacerbated the damage he did to Migos by negotiating a 2018 amendment to the exclusive stamp deal between QCM and Capitol Records,” Freedman writes. “That amendment prompted an extension of the exclusive recording agreement between QCM and Migos, which Granderson knew contained terms that were outrageous to Migos.”
Those terms, according to the lawsuit, include a clause that would require the Migos to serve the Capitol directly if the gang ended its relationship with QCM, and it was drafted in a way that financially discouraged it. Freedman writes: “Granderson effectively prevented his other client, Migos, from ever having to pay excessive compensation to QCM, from ever signing with any other record label, and from never obtaining negotiating influence to secure reasonable terms regarding the distribution of their musical recordings. “
The Migos also allege that Granderson made settlement mistakes and practiced law without a California license five years after moving to Los Angeles. (Davis Shapiro, his employer before launching his own company in 2019, previously had offices in New York and Los Angeles)
The gang is suing for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of California Business and Professions Code 6147 and 6148 (requiring written contingency fee agreements), unfair competition, and unfair enrichment. They are looking for a statement that the 5 percent contingent fee agreement is invalid, as well as restitution and punitive damages.
Granderson has not yet responded to a request for comment on the complaint.
Quality Control Music CEO Pierre “Pee” Thomas released a long statement on Instagram in response to the lawsuit Wednesday. “It is unfortunate that the very people we have worked hard for, provided opportunities for, and advocated for now claim that we have participated in any kind of immoral or unfair business practices or that we have taken advantage of them and their careers,” the statement read. , partly. “I am not going to wait and let the reputation of Quality Control Music and everything we’ve built and sacrificed be tarnished by accusations of unfair and unfair business practices … I understand in this business that you are not always going to end people it started with. I say that, I’m not forcing anyone to do business with us who has a problem and can’t communicate and doesn’t want to work as a unit. Everything is negotiable. “
