Published: Friday - November 14, 2008
Words by Allen Starbury
Damon Dash (Photo: Getty Images)
It seems nobody is safe from the economic decline over the past couple years. Superproducer Scott Storch has had his fair share of financial problems, and it's long rumored that hip-hop mogul Damon Dash is experiencing his own as well.
The New York Daily News reports that Dash has being targeted by lawyers, lenders and landlords in Manhattan Supreme Court who want their money.
Dash has gone from owing several companies including shoe company Keds and Armadale Vodka, to dodging his bills. This is a man who in 2005 sold his stake in Rocawear to Jay-Z for $22 million, and even proclaimed himself a "cake-a-holic." Looks like his cake is running low these days.
"I've worked with musicians, artists and entertainers that, in the eyes of the media, are very wealthy," lawyer Jason Gabbard, who represented a fashion firm that settled a suit against Dash and his wife over $148,505 in unpaid fees, told the paper. "But to borrow a phrase from my Kentucky homeland, they haven't got a pot to piss in -- they're broke."
According to the paper, this week a Manhattan judge ordered the city to seize Dash's Chevrolet Tahoe, because he hasn't been making the $714 monthly payment.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of one in August from Eastern Savings Bank, who foreclosed on two of Dash's homes. The once powerful music mogul owed $7.3 million on two Tribeca condos, after Dash and his wife Rachel Roy failed to make their $78,500 mortgage payments for several months.
Dash also faces an outstanding $2.1 million tab with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, a $4,500 bill from the state for not paying workers' comp, and a suit that says he stiffed a law firm that handled his child-custody case.
In 2006, he told New York magazine that he had his own butler, and bragged that he was worth "about $50 million."
The Daily News sent emails to Dash's camp, but the mogul did not respond. His spokesperson told the paper that Dash "won all of his lawsuits."
Despite the claims, the paper digged up court records that show Dash settled two suits accusing him of not paying rent on two Manhattan offices, as well as suits charging that he owed money to fashion designer Charlotte Ronson, the fashion firm Showroom Seven, and a security company that guards celebs.
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