Akon and his former business partner are making headlines, but not for good reason.
According to PageSix, the R&B singer is being accused of refusing to pay his end of a contract agreement with Devyne Stephens, the music executive who helped to launch his career and has worked with the likes of Destiny’s Child, Jay-Z, Pink, TLC, and Usher. He claims that he is owed $750,000 and nearly $3 million in royalties.
The original 2018 agreement confirms that Akon agreed to pay Stephens $3.25 million over the span of four years. However, the updated suit alleges that he hasn’t paid the final $750,000 installment.
History Of The Lawsuit
This isn’t the first time that Akon and his former business partner have gone to court following the disruption of their business relationship. The pair has gone to court three times and Stephens says that Akon even sabotaged his relationship with Atlantic Records in order to remove himself from the clause in their settlement.
The clause was an agreement for Akon to pay royalties to Stephens for four future albums under a “major” label.
Reports from the court papers claim that the “Lonely” singer believes that he should not have to pay his 20 percent cut of the royalties because he is now under BMG Records.
On the other hand, Stephens wants the singer to understand that he’s not able to work his way out of the royalty payments since Akon breached his contract with Atlantic. Furthermore, he also says that BMG is “by any objective metric,” a major record label.
“Akon has spent the better part of a decade frustrating Stephens’ attempts to obtain large amounts of money which Akon unambiguously promised in contracts to pay Stephens,” read the documents, according to Page Six.
Next Steps
While Akon’s legal team has yet to respond to the claims, Stephens stands firm on his claims that the singer is wrong.
“Although Akon argues he is not currently signed to a ‘major’ record label, he is wrong,” continued the suit.
Only time will tell if the two can return back to normal after this fallout.
