Popular U.S rap group, Migos, has filed a complaint against their longtime attorney, Damien Granderson. The group are claiming that Granderson “abused his position of trust as Migos’ fiduciary from the moment he was retained as Migos’ lawyer” and “cheated the group out of millions of dollars.
The Georgia hip hop trio which is made up of Quavious Marshall (“Quavo”), Kiari Cephus (“Offset”), Kirsnick Ball (“Takeoff”) according to the report by Variety, accused Damien Granderson of “glaring conflicts of interest” . They said he is favouring the group’s label, Quality Control, which he also represented.
The suit, which does not specify an amount the group is seeking beyond “millions of dollars,” accuses Damien Granderson of professional malpractice and unjust enrichment, among other claims
The lawsuit also alleges that Granderson’s record deals first with 300 Entertainment, which the group left in 2017 via a pricey exit arrangement to join with Capitol, were not in its best interest and cost the group “millions of dollars.”
The complaint, filed by attorney Bryan Freedman, also alleges that Granderson “concealed” from the group that Quality Control had an exclusive label deal with Capitol that “would allow Capitol to distribute all albums that QCM produced and that QCM was actually profiting far more handsomely than was apparent from the face of the documents that Granderson personally presented to Migos for immediate execution.”
It says that a 2018 amendment to the group’s deal with Capitol “triggered an extension of the exclusive recording agreement between QCM and Migos, which Granderson knew to contain terms that were unconscionable for Migos.”
Migos’ publishing, merchandising and performing rights deals are also cited in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Granderson of “betray[ing] Migos when he failed to disclose both the complete nature of his relationship with QCM and the complete nature of the conflict in representing both QCM and Migos,” as well as taking “more compensation that is customary for other lawyers in the field” and of “incompetence” in other negotiations.
It also alleges that the terms of the group’s deal with Quality Control “were, and are, extremely unreasonable to Migos” and gave them “the right to far-above-industry-norm compensation even though QCM was not required to perform any work at all.
Granderson, who began working with Migos and QC in 2013, was with Davis Shapiro until it split into two firms in mid-2019 when founded Granderson Des Rochers.