This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Progiving you a single cheat sheet of big new cases, major decisions and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Lil Durk faces federal murder-for-hire charges for allegedly ordering his associates to kill a rival rapper. Megan Thee Stallion's lawyer threatens legal action over false reports that Tory Lanez was declared 'not guilty'. Ye and Adidas reach an agreement to resolve legal disputes over the end of their partnership with Yeezy. and many more.
THE BIG STORY: Lil Durk charged with murder-for-hire
Two years after rapper Quando Rondo was ambushed by gunmen at a Los Angeles gas station, federal prosecutors have accused Chicago rapper Lil Durk of ordering the attack — an attack they say was in retaliation for the killing of rising star King Von in 2020.
The Chicago rapper (real name Durk Devontay Banks) was arrested as he tried to leave the country on a private jet, hours after several of his Only the Family collaborators were indicted on similar charges for their alleged involvement in the attack, which left Rondo unscathed . but saw his cousin killed in the crossfire.
Like the ongoing case in Atlanta against Young Thug and his YSL crew, prosecutors say Only The Family was not just a highly touted group of Chicago rappers, but a “hybrid organization” that also operated as a criminal gang for acts of violence “at the direction” of Durk.
“Mr. Banks is accused of orchestrating a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of an adversary's family member,” the United States Attorney said. Martin Estrada. “Violent gun crimes of this nature are devastating to our community and we will have zero tolerance for those who commit such cruel acts of violence.”
For more, read our full story here, which includes access to the actual charging documents revealed against Durk.
Other top stories…
FAKE NEWS CLEANED UP – False claims circulated on social media over the weekend that a California appeals court found Tory Lanez “not guilty” of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. That's not at all what actually happened, and now Megan's lawyer is threatening legal action on the “nonsense” that went viral: “They will face consequences.”
DIDDY SUED AGAIN – Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with two new civil abuse lawsuits, including one accusing him of drugging and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a New York hotel room in 2005. The second case accused the hip-hop mogul of similarly assaulting to a 17-year-old aspiring reality TV contestant Making the band in 2008. Combs is currently in prison awaiting trial on sweeping federal criminal charges for decades of alleged sexual abuse.
CHAOS IN THE YSL CASE – Young Thug's long-running Atlanta gang trial was once again thrown into chaos after a state's witness accidentally revealed sensitive information to the jury — a mistake the judge quickly attributed to “sloppiness” by prosecutors. The move left the judge mulling whether to declare a mistrial and sparked settlement negotiations between the government and the defendants. It's just the latest delay in a criminal trial that has spanned 10 months of jury selection and 11 months of testimony to become the longest in state history.
YEEZY SETTLEMENT – Adidas has reached an agreement with Ye (formerly Kanye West) to resolve all pending legal claims stemming from the company's decision to end its partnership with the rapper and his Yeezy brand. The deal comes two years after Adidas ended its lucrative partnership with the rapper due to his anti-Semitic statements and erratic behavior.
DEPOSIT DRAMA – The Texas Supreme Court ruled that he is the CEO of Live Nation Michael Rapinoe must sit for testimony in the ongoing trial over the 2021 disaster at the Astroworld music festival, rejecting Live Nation's argument that the executive was not closely involved in the festival's operations. Lawyers for the victims cited an email Rapinoe sent the night of the disaster, ordering another employee to wait for more information before canceling the rest of the festival: “If 5 died we would cancel,” he wrote in the message.
WHAT'S IN A NAME? Beyoncé's lawyers have once again asked the US Patent and Trademark Office to trademark her daughter's name, more than 12 years after she and Jay-Z first tried to lock down the copyright “Blue Ivy Carter”. In the latest filing, they pushed back concerns that consumers might confuse the Blue Ivy name with another Blue Ivy: a one-store clothing boutique in Wisconsin that had been using the name since before young Carter was born.
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