Miami rapper Rick
Ross has been hit with a lawsuit claiming he owes his manager more than $1 million
dollars for services rendered over a three year period that produced Ross’ hit
album Port of Miami. Philadelphia
based Respect Management, owned by attorney Kevon Glickman, filed the lawsuit
yesterday (Apr. 10) in the United States District Court of Pennsylvania.The
lawsuit claims that Ross, born William Roberts, breached the three-year management
agreement that he signed in 2004 by attempting to divert commissions due to Respect
Management to his co-manager, Elric "E-Class" Prince.According
to the lawsuit, Ross signed with Respect Management in 2004. Soon
afterwards, Ross landed a major label deal with Def Jam, which released the six-foot
four, 300 pound rapper’s debut Port of Miami.The
album moved over 800,000 copies based on the hit singles "Hustlin’"
and "Push It.” Glickman
claims that while Ross was his client, Ross’ earnings went from $5,000 to more
than $1 million in the three year span, yet Ross failed to compensate Respect
Management for its management services, in excess of $1 million dollars. The
lawsuit claims that through the use of "physical" and "mental"
intimidation, "Roberts has demanded that management commissions due on his
record and publishing contracts be paid by Def Jam and Sony to Elric "E-Class"
Prince rather than to Respect as required by the agreement."In
addition to acting as Ross’ co-manager, Elric "E-Class" Prince is also
the head of Miami based record label Poe Boy Entertainment.According
to Glickman, he was threatened in a "series of phone calls, meetings, emails,
text messages and other methods" in such a manner that he "would be
subjected to severe and bodily harm and/or loss of his life if he did not consent
to their demands.""The
coercion by Roberts and Prince consisted of explicit and implicit threats and
intimidation of Glickman by indicating that they were from the streets of Miami,
knew how to handle themselves and had known and associated with persons engaged
in criminal conduct in the Gang life of Miami and other cities," Glickman’s
complaint reads. The
lawsuit also claims that Ross continues to perform and earn a substantial amount
of income and has failed to compensate Respect Management the 20% of gross earnings
called for in the contract.Additionally,
Respect Management is seeking an injunction to prevent Ross from receiving several
advances from Slip-N-Slide Records, Def Jam and Sony Publishing.