The wild ride that is the life of Kanye West continues to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. After months of searching, the rapper’s former lawyers, Greenberg Traurig LLP, have finally located him. Greenberg Traurig had been representing Ye in multiple lawsuits, including contract disputes, employment claims, and class action cases from employees who alleged they were overworked and underpaid while performing on an opera. Yet after Ye’s series of public anti-Semitic outbursts, the firm made a decision to discontinue their representation of him.
Most judges overseeing the cases allowed the firm to withdraw, but one exception was US District Judge Analisa Torres. She was presiding over a case in Manhattan brought by a music publishing agency that claimed Ye used uncredited samples for his song “Flowers.” Torres not only required Greenberg Traurig to serve Ye with a withdrawal notice but also wrote an order that the firm would have to serve him, explaining that they were no longer his representatives and that he would have to either find new lawyers or represent himself in court.
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The process of serving Ye was not an easy one. He had fled his other residences and business addresses and stopped responding to texts from Greenberg Traurig. The firm asked for repeated extensions for the deadline to track him down but eventually served him with Torres’s order on January 27. The address where Ye was found was put under seal for privacy and to prevent unwanted access.
But this marks the end of Greenberg Traurig’s involvement and the beginning of Ye’s ongoing legal battles. Despite the abundant legal issues he is dealing with from copyright holders, former workers, a previous business supervisor, and even an exclusive luxury lending service, his misfortunes remain unresolved. Ye allegedly owes millions for stolen music, underpaid wages, unpaid bills, and unreturned clothing. If he doesn’t find new lawyers, these cases could move forward without him and result in default judgments, meaning he would lose automatically.
In addition, Ye faces allegations of copyright infringement stemming from his 2022 album “Donda 2” and contract disputes with individuals who claim he failed to pay them for their work. One of his former business managers is suing him for $4.5 million, alleging he wasn’t paid for 18 months of work as a financial advisor. The former manager had trouble locating Ye to serve him with the lawsuit, leading to unsubstantiated rumors that Ye had gone missing.
Throughout last year, Ye made hate-filled statements about Jewish people, denied the Holocaust, and praised Hitler, causing most of his business associates, including close friends, to abandon him. He was banned from Twitter in December for violating its rules on inciting violence.
The search for Kanye West may be over, but his legal troubles are far from it. He faces numerous lawsuits and owes millions to former business associates and music labels. If he doesn’t find new lawyers, these cases could move forward without him, resulting in default judgments. Ye’s elusive behavior only adds to the drama, and the future remains uncertain for the once-great artist.
