Adidas was quietly granted a legal action last year that froze $75 million in bank accounts held by Kanye West’s Yeezy brand.
According to unsealed court documents shared by Law360, Adidas filed the case on Nov. 11 in the wake of Ye’s antisemitism scandal and weeks after the sportswear giant publicly announced they severed ties with the rapper. Kanye West was denied the opportunity to respond to the filing as the order was made on an ex-parte basis.
Whilst the case was withheld from the public, Ye confirmed the news in an interview last year.
“The reason why I’m announcing that I’m running for president is I want the FCC to look at my money,” Kaye West stated on Nov. 22. “If they actually see, I was looking at my money, and there might have been a possibility that Adidas wouldn’t have went into JP Morgan and froze my account and put a $75 million hold on four different accounts.”
Ye continued, “I went from being a multi-billionaire to not even being able to use my Apple Pay four nights ago. I couldn’t use my Apple Pay because somehow Adidas was able to legally go in and freeze my money, and when I see this, I think, well, if this could happen to me, this could happen to other Americans, and for what? You know this can happen to an American that didn’t even steal anything, that didn’t even hurt anyone. This could just happen to you for saying the wrong idea out loud.”
Adidas took legal action to prevent Kanye West from moving funds while they attempted to come to an agreement in private arbitration.
“Petitioner has demonstrated that it has satisfied the grounds for an ex parte attachment because the court is satisfied that there is risk that Yeezy will remove or dissipate assets if notice of this request for attachment is given to Yeezy,” Judge Valerie E. Caproni writes in the November 11th order.
Judge Caproni unsealed the documents earlier this month stating the records no longer need to be sealed as Kanye West publicly discussed the ruling. Ye is currently fighting to have the ruling overturned.