Aaron Carter, net worth $400k, must pay $25k for each time he used stolen artwork to promote clothing line
In the past few years, singer Aaron Carter has been notorious for his run-ins with the law besides struggling with substance abuse. In November 2013, his dwindling finances resulted in him filing for bankruptcy in the state of Florida, citing $3.5M in debt.
In the bankruptcy filing, he listed his total assets at just $8,232.16. Aaron apparently owed $1.368M to the IRS alone. He further listed an average monthly income of $2000 and average monthly expenses of $2005 ($5 loss per month). At the time of filing, Aaron was living with a relative and claimed his most valuable assets were a $500 television, two MacBook computers, a Louis Vuitton backpack and a $3500 Breitling watch.
Just last year in September, his brother Nick filed a restraining order against Aaron because the latter threatened to harm his family.
Cut to May 5, Aaron, who now has a net worth of $400,000, was served a lawsuit for allegedly ripping off a painting from an artist and using it to promote his clothing line. He also launched a Twitter attack against the artist.
According to a Manhattan lawsuit, Nick's brother allegedly ran an image of the painting "Cosmic Lion" on his now-defunct Love Collection website on which he sold apparel and jewelry. The painting also made its way to Aaron's personal website and his Instagram page where it garnered close to 14,719 likes, according to the lawsuit.
Maldives resident and artist Ali Shimhaq confronted the singer about the alleged theft on Twitter, which led to a profanity-laced volley of tweets from the latter.
“Bro literally get over yourself. I bought the image and I own it," the 'Crush on You' singer allegedly replied on Twitter. "F**k off snd srop [sic] clout chasing. Or sue me," said Aaron claiming that the artwork came from Shutterstock and Shutterfly.
Shots were fired from Shimhaq's end as well and he called the singer a "liar" and "art stealer".
"Literally suck a **k,” Aaron allegedly replied back. "F**k off and watch me burn that s**t in a garbage it was trash anyways," he added. Aaron's Twitter account was deleted after this showdown.
Shutterstock and Shutterfly allegedly informed Shimhaq that they never had the painting in their database and nor did they license it to Carter, the suit says.
"This is an example of a celebrity infringing upon another's artwork for monetary gain, claiming it as his own, removing the artist’s watermark, and defending his actions on social media by saying what he did was OK," said attorney Richard Liebowitz. "Artists must get paid for their hard work."
Shimhaq wants Carter to pay up to $25,000 for each unauthorized use of the image. The painting no longer appears on Aaron's website and his clothing website has expired too.