Cardi B Countersues Ex-Manager For $15M, Calls Him ‘Deceitful And Disloyal’

Cardi B is fighting back! The fastest rising woman of rap has filed a counter-lawsuit against her former manager for $15 million.

The 25-year-old filed a case against Klenord "Shaft" Raphael of KSR Records at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday, July 5. Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, claims abuse of trust and exploitation against her former manager.

Cardi B Hit With $10 Million Lawsuit

To recall, in April, Shaft sued the "I Like It" rapper for alleged breach of contract and unjust enrichment after she left KSR and WorldStar Marketing Group for Solid Foundation, the management wing of Quality Control. He also claimed that Cardi B continued to defame his name on social media after they parted ways. Shaft and WorldStar Marketing Group are demanding an amount to be determined during trial, but not less than $10 million.

The talent manager discovered the Grammy-nominated artist in 2015, back when she was still a stripper. He claims that he got her a spot on the reality television show Love & Hip Hop on VH1 and was an important player in her meteoric rise to fame.

Shaft has since been frozen out of her career, but to this day, he continues to boast about her successes.

Cardi B Fights Back

According to Variety, the counter-lawsuit filed by the chart-topping artist claims that the original case made against her and her new managers Kevin "Coach K" Lee and Pierre "Pee" Thomas, rose from "deceitful and disloyal conduct of a self-serving and controlling personal manager." She said that Shaft took advantage of her, deceived her, and was exploitative during the time she was his client.

The Invasion of Privacy rapper added that Shaft used his position to gain a larger portion of her money when she increasingly became popular. At one point, Shaft allegedly demanded that he and KSR be paid 50 percent of record royalties. Cardi B was also pressured to give up all copyrights in any audio and video recordings as well as 50 percent of her compositions to KSR.

The Bronx-born and raised star also complained about how KSR handled paperwork. She said that the company was "negligent" in record-keeping.

"Shaft and/or KSR eventually prepared rough, cryptic spreadsheets for individual performance dates in 2017, which failed to include much of the most basic expense information necessary to determine whether even these inadequate sketches were accurate or reliable," the suit stated.

While still very much pregnant with her first child with fiancé Offset of Migos, Cardi B continues to shatter the glass ceiling of the male-dominated rap/hip-hop industry. According to Billboard (via Fast Company), "I Like It" has reached the number 1 of the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female rapper ever to score two number 1 hits on the singles chart since its inception.

Tags

Cardi B