Cherry Jones, the mother of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and manager Jarred Weisfeld have filed a $1.8 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against a Florida-based production company, alleging the company reneged on deals for a rap album and DVD, while using ODB’s name to lure investors. Weisfeld claims AGU Entertainment attempted to exploit Ol’ Dirty’s name after they backed out of a deal to release an album by Dirty’s group Brooklyn Zoo, as well as "Blackass," a DVD Weisfeld described as an "urban Jackass." "They sent me a letter stating we had less-than-fruitful discussions [and] they were terminating any future talks," Weisfeld told AllHipHop.com. "Then someone got a hold of an investor packet and Dirty’s name was still in there." Weisfeld accused AGU’s President David Levy of attempting to defraud him and said Levy had been involved in trouble in the 1990’s. "He stole $6 million dollars of kids money in a scam called ‘Scholarscam.’ He was charged by the Federal Trade Commission." Levy disputed the charges and told the Daily News the entire lawsuit is frivolous. "I resolved it with the FTC for less than $11,000," Levy stated. "What you read now is sensationalized. Any personal attack on me is fruitless. "It’s nonsense. It’s frivolous. I would never have approved a deal with ODB." AGU’s attorney Andy Peretz admitted that ODB’s name appeared in the investor packets, but denied Weisfeld’s claims of fraud. "ODB did appear in the investor packet, but it was literally a one-liner on the fifth page of the executive summary. There was never any intention or design by AGU to take advantage of ODB in life or in death, and it was unfortunate that it was portrayed that way." "Hip-Hop gets a bad name and then you get these guys in corporate America, these so-called business men, and they have longer rap sheets than the rappers. These are publicly traded companies and no body tries to shut that down." Weisfeld said all of Dirty’s projects, including his debut album on the Dame Dash Music Group, would hit stores soon.
Cherry Jones, the mother of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and manager Jarred
Weisfeld have filed a $1.8 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against a Florida-based
production company, alleging the company reneged on deals for a rap album and
DVD, while using ODB’s name to lure investors.
Weisfeld claims AGU Entertainment attempted to exploit Ol’ Dirty’s
name after they backed out of a deal to release an album by Dirty’s group Brooklyn
Zoo, as well as "Blackass," a DVD Weisfeld described as an "urban
Jackass."
"They
sent me a letter stating we had less-than-fruitful discussions [and] they were
terminating any future talks," Weisfeld told AllHipHop.com. "Then
someone got a hold of an investor packet and Dirty’s name was still in there."
Weisfeld accused AGU’s President David Levy of attempting to
defraud him and said Levy had been involved in trouble in the 1990’s.
"He stole $6 million dollars of kids money in a scam called
‘Scholarscam.’ He was charged by the Federal Trade Commission."
Levy disputed the charges and told the Daily News the entire
lawsuit is frivolous.
"I resolved it with the FTC for less than $11,000,"
Levy stated. "What you read now is sensationalized. Any personal attack
on me is fruitless. "It’s nonsense. It’s frivolous. I would never have
approved a deal with ODB."
AGU’s attorney Andy Peretz admitted that ODB’s name appeared
in the investor packets, but denied Weisfeld’s claims of fraud.
"ODB did appear in the investor packet, but it was literally
a one-liner on the fifth page of the executive summary. There was never any
intention or design by AGU to take advantage of ODB in life or in death, and
it was unfortunate that it was portrayed that way."
"Hip-Hop
gets a bad name and then you get these guys in corporate America, these so-called
business men, and they have longer rap sheets than the rappers. These are publicly
traded companies and no body tries to shut that down."
Weisfeld said all of Dirty’s projects, including his debut album
on the Dame Dash Music Group, would hit stores soon.
