S. Samuel
R&B singer Ryan Leslie is reportedly experiencing more problems since offering a million dollar reward for the return of his stolen laptop a few years ago by filing for bankruptcy.
Details of Leslie’s latest battle with his finances have started to circulate online.
It’s no money, mo’ problems for Harvard-educated rapper Ryan Leslie. The Manhattan-based musician filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month in an effort to ditch his debts, including a $1.180 million judgment he owes to Armin Augstein, a German man who returned the singer’s lost laptop in 2010 for a promised reward. Leslie reneged on the reward, and still hasn’t paid despite a successful lawsuit brought by Augstein, who says in court papers the singer made nearly $500,000 in the first half of 2013 alone. (New York Post)
According to recent reports, serious action against Leslie had been taken in light of him holding out on his pricey laptop reward.
Now he’ll have to rap about taking the bus. City marshals have seized cheapskate rapper Ryan Leslie’s pimped-out ride after he failed to fork over the $1 million reward he promised for the recovery of his lost laptop, sources and court papers state. The “fully loaded,” mint-condition Cadillac Escalade will go up for auction Monday, and the proceeds will go to a German man, Armin Augstein, who found the rapper’s lost laptop in a German park in 2010. Augstein sued in Manhattan federal court after Leslie refused to pay. The rapper claimed the laptop files, and those on an external hard drive, were damaged. A jury ordered Leslie to pay up last year, but he has so far coughed up only $5,000, court papers claim. (New York Post)
Despite the news sprouting online last month, the seize reportedly went down back in August.
Leslie’s performances rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars, court documents say. Asked by lawyers where the money goes, the rapper fired back, “Probably in my pockets,” court papers state. In recent months, his firm, Les is More, earned more than $400,000, which he has used to buy himself food, bling and electronics, court documents and city sources state. Marshals seized his SUV on Aug. 8. No other property was taken. An ad for the upcoming auction says the SUV features power steering, power windows, DVD players and third-row seating. Leslie, known for his songs “Diamond Girl” and “Addiction,” could not be reached for comment at his home in the Financial District. (New York Post)
Back in January, reports claimed R. Les was expected to pay roughly $200,000 more on top of the $1 million he already owes the German plaintiff.
A Grammy-nominated rapper whose music files disappeared when his laptop was stolen was ordered to pay nearly $1.2 million to a German man who claims to have found the computer in a forest. “He made a second reward video and offered $1 million for just the intellectual property on the external hard drive and computer, the session files,” David DeStefano, Leslie’s attorney, told ABC News. “They’re different from just an MP3, MP3s are nothing for a producer or a studio engineer, they can’t do anything with them. They need the session files. These were his compositions.” On Friday, the court once again sided with Augstein and ordered Leslie to pay an additional $180,000 to Augstein for interest that accrued between when the laptop was found, in 2010, and when the decision came down from federal court in 2012. (ABC News)
