A New York-based tech start up is suing Lil Durk and his business manager for millions of dollars in a fraud case.
On Thursday (December 7), Exceed Talent Capital filed a complaint with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Durk, his manager, Andrew Bonsu, and his Only The Family (OTF) record label attempted to sell the rights to his single “Bedtime” despite already being committed to an exclusive contract with Alamo records via Sony Music Entertainment.
According to the complaint, Exceed Talent Capital, which offers “qualified investors” direct opportunities to “participate in the talent and creator economy” acquired the rights to “Bedtime” for $600,000 in order to sell shares of the song via their “fractional investing infrastructure.”
When the company announced the partnership with Lil Durk, which included NFT-like rewards such as exclusive access to shares of “Bedtime,” lifetime access to a private Grand Theft Auto online role playing server created by OTF and more, there were over 15,000 fans on a wait list in October 2022.
However, in the complaint, Exceed Talent Capital claims they received a demand May 2023 that stated Lil Durk was “signed to an exclusive recording agreement” with Alamo and that Durk, Bonsu and Empire didn’t have “any right” to “assign any interest in the revenue streams generated” by the single.
Though Exceed Talent Capital claims it paid $450,000 of the total amount guaranteed in the contract when they receive the demand letter, the company claims it has sustained at least 12 million in damages since Durk’s and Bonsu allegedly “utterly ignored Exceed’s entreaties and refused to refund to Exceed any portion of the [money] it had already paid.”