The estate of founding Gang Starr member/legendary rapper Guru has filed a lawsuit against his former business partner, John “Solar” Mosher.
The Executors of Guru’s estate are his sister Patricia Elam and former Guru Productions employee, Lana Veyda.
They are suing Solar over claims he plundered the rapper’s estate, lied under oath, concealed assets, and even cashed out Guru’s life insurance policy while looting his retirement fund.
Guru’s estate originally took Solar to court in February of 2015, and following a bench trial, Solar was ordered to turn over to the estate property that he stole from Guru.
According to the lawsuit, a court thoroughly discredited Solar’s testimony that the rapper had gifted Solar shares of his corporations, tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and ownership of lucrative trademarks in the months before his death from cancer on April 19, 2010.
Disgracefully, the court also found that he never authorized Solar to sign his name to legal papers, which ultimately diverted the payment of royalty streams from Guru and into Solar’s pockets.
According to a judgment, no shares, ownership interest, or rights in three of Guru’s corporations are, or were ever legitimately owned by or transferred to Solar.
The court also permanently restrained and enjoined Solar from any involvement with, or directly or indirectly, utilizing licensing, or any of Guru’s Gang Starr or “Jazzmatazz” trademarks and logos.
In March, and again in June of 2021, the late rapper’s estate attempted to question Solar, who invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions.
Guru’s estate insists Solar has been lying about numerous assets he is holding on to, which have a significant value that could help settle the $114,000 debt he owes to Guru’s estate.
For instance, Solar failed to disclose his 50% ownership in a real estate property in Jamaica, and he also lied about his ownership stake in a variety of corporations.
Solar was also caught selling 30 unreleased songs made by Guru for $150,000, 6 months after he filed for bankruptcy.
Patricia Elam says Solar is holding dozens of unreleased songs by Guru hostage, which he also failed to disclose to the court.
Guru’s estate also asserted that Solar has falsely presented himself to the public as the owner of numerous copyrights related to an album by Gang Starr, and he also had the nerve to send cease and desist notices, and copyright takedowns to a variety of platforms.
Solar’s despicable trickery did not end there.
In June of 2018, he had Denise Sandoval, the mother of his children, file for a trademark in an attempt to get the rights to the Gang Starr name.
The estate is also seeking $30,000 Solar received from Guru’s AFTRA Health Fund Group life insurance policy, which they say was illegally diverted and another $25,000 the rapper had stashed in a retirement fund.
