Damon Dash is reportedly being forced to sell his share of Roc-A-Fella Records, the company he co-founded with JAY-Z and Kareem Burke.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, one-third of Dash’s shares will be sold by the U.S. Marshal at a public auction on August 29 in Manhattan. Potential bidders will have to register to attend the auction by sending an email to attorney Christopher Brown, the same lawyer who represents director Josh Webber.
Webber, of course, is the person who was awarded more than $800,000 in a civil judgment against Dash for copyright infringement and defamation in 2022 over the film Dear Frank. The purpose of the auction is to satisfy the debt, which will include Dash’s most valuable asset, JAY-Z’s Reasonable Doubt. The bidding will start at $1.2 million and the purchaser must be able to pay a deposit of 20 percent, $240,000, at the time of the sale.
Dame Dash took a massive loss in court in April 2022, when a jury handed down the $805,000 judgement to Webber and Muddy Water Pictures. Shortly after the news broke, Dash shared a screenshot of the TMZ story to his Instagram account and vowed this wasn’t the end of the story.
“You have to lose some battles to win a war…. stay tuned.” he wrote. #fatliars #youllneverbeme. Don’t ever say you Directed MY movie.”
Dame Dash was originally hired to direct the movie in 2016 but ultimately removed from the project after he was deemed unfit for the job. Webber and Muddy Water Pictures claimed he was always high on set while shooting the film on his Sherman Oaks property and decided to finish the film without him.
In 2019, they sued Dash for copyright infringement and defamation, claiming he tried to shop Dear Frank around as his own. They also alleged he sent promotional material to networks such as BET but changed the film’s title to The List. Dame argued they shot the film at his home using all of his equipment, then stole the footage to do the movie on their own.
Brown, who represented the plaintiffs, said at the time, “I will get every penny due to my clients.”
Two years later, JAY-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records’ attorney, Alex Spiro, filed a lawsuit against Dash, accusing him of attempting to auction Reasonable Doubt as an NFT without permission. But Dash refuted the story and insisted he was simply trying to sell his stake in Roc-A-Fella.
The situation intensified in July 2021 after Dash filed a countersuit against JAY-Z and Roc-A-Fella with the New York Supreme Court, alleging JAY-Z wrongfully claiming streaming rights to Reasonable Doubt for himself. The suit claimed JAY-Z transferred streaming rights to the album to S. Carter Enterprises LLC without authorization from Roc-A-Fella.
Dash was seeking a minimum of $1 million in damages over unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, replevin and conversion. When reached for comment, Spiro called the lawsuit “nothing more than a frivolous stunt,” but Dash and his attorney Natraj Bhushan disagreed.
During a phone interview with journalist Kyle Eustice at the time, Dash said, “From my perspective, it feels like this was all done to devalue this asset. I just don’t understand why. What’s odd is that they knew I was only trying to sell one-third, but they’re trying to say I tried to sell the whole thing. But we all know that that’s not the case, so why do they keep saying it? The question is, why is it such a big deal? Why is everyone so scared for me to sell my one-third?”
Dash also didn’t understand why JAY-Z or Burke didn’t just pick up the phone. He added, “Honestly, I think this is corny. If there’s an issue, just call me. Why do I have to hear it? Why do I have to get sued? Biggs, Jay, call me and tell me what the play is but if you swing on me, I’m going to have to swing back.
“And when I say that, I’m saying now that I’m looking under the hood, it looks crazy, but I just do believe that I don’t need all of this. I’m trying to live my life. I’m the guy that’s always saying this is what they want us to do. They want us culturally to fight each other for them while they watch us and that’s exactly what’s happening.”
