Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty’s $20 million battle with his sexual assault accuser is quickly turning into a dog fight between their attorneys.
The lawyers have been bickering back and forth ever since it was revealed Kenneth Petty’s sexual assault accuser, Jennifer Hough, was dropping her lawsuit against Nicki Minaj.
The legal wrangling was just a formality because Hough is moving her lawsuit from New York to California, where Nicki and Kenneth Petty reside.
Hough claims Nicki and Kenneth have been terrorizing her, and she’s been living in fear of her life for refusing to recant her 1994 rape allegations against the rap star’s husband.
When Hough refused, the celebrity couple allegedly tried to pay her $500,000. When the bribe did not work, Nicki and Kenneth supposedly ordered gang members to threaten Hough’s life.
In email correspondence obtained by AllHipHop, Nicki Minaj’s lawyer Judd Burstein claimed the rap star had shelled out $300,000 to defend herself from a “frivolous” lawsuit.
Judd Burstein said “even his Labradoodle Gracie” could see Hough’s lawsuit was simply a money grab, and he vowed to sanction Hough and her attorneys Steven Gordon and Tyrone Blackburn for claiming Nicki and Kenneth are members of a Bloods subset called The Makk Baller Brims.
Blackburn and Steven Gordon sent a letter to Judge Eric Vitaliano, and they made some shocking allegations against Judd Burstein.
Gordon said he was almost forced to resign from the case because Burstein began targeting his wife and harassing her.
“As a young attorney, I could have never fathomed the types of harassment and threats that Mr. Burstein has employed against me, personally,” Steven Gordon complained to Judge Vitaliano.
“Mr. Burstein baselessly attempted to threaten that my wife had waived our marital communications privilege, insinuating that he would seek to invade one of the most private relationships in my life. Accordingly, for my family’s safety and privacy, I was almost forced to withdraw from this motion,” Gordon revealed.
According to Tyrone Blackburn, Judd Burstein “has taken residency in the sewers of the legal profession” throughout the proceedings.
Blackburn said the court has sanctioned Burstein at least ten times since the early 1990s, the most recent in 2018.
However, the most damning accusation against Burstein was revealed when Blackburn accused him of cyberstalking Steven Gordon’s wife.
“An example of his deplorable behavior stems from his sick obsession with Mr. Gordon’s wife,” Blackburn said. “Mr. Burstein went scrummaging through the comments section of youtube posts in search of comments posted by Mrs. Gordon.
“Not only was his act of cyberstalking Mrs. Gordon creepy, but it was also weird and beneath the dignity of this profession,” Tyrone Blackburn told Judge Vitaliano.
Blackburn said Burstein’s antics are simply an “exercise in billing” to run up Nicki Minaj’s legal costs.
Tyrone Blackburn also apologized for Jennifer Hough’s “second-hand embarrassment” due to Burstein’s “misguided abuse” of the legal proceedings and wasting the court’s time.