50 Cent suffered a major legal loss this week. On Friday (June 30), U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant threw out the mogul’s $32 million malpractice lawsuit against U.S. law firm Reed Smith and its former partner Peter Raymond. He argued Smith lifted an “uninformed” legal strategy in a legal matter that wound up costing him $7 million, Reuters reports.
The Queens native said the lawyers’ loyalties were divided because one of the potential witnesses in the case was Rick Ross, someone one of them had represented in the past.
The attorneys worked with 50 Cent when he was sued for releasing a sex tape on social media as a part of his beef with the Maybach Music Group executive.
50 Cent believed the conflict of interest may have been the reason that Ross never testified in the case. As a result, he fired the lawyers in March 2015. In July of that year, he lost and was mandated to pay $7 million in damages.
A ripple effect happened after the case fell through. Three days after the ruling, 50 Cent filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut, and Reed Smith filed a claim against the “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” recording artist for unpaid fees to the firm.
Bryant said her decision was based on 50’s inability to prove or express how these divided loyalties led to him losing at trial.
“Without more, the court cannot conclude the conflict of interest impacted counsel’s discovery strategy, or that the conflict caused Jackson to lose at trial,” the federal judge said.
