WHERE IS KANYE WEST? Rapper goes AWOL as ex-biz manager claims he can't find him to serve $4.5M suit
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It has been alleged in court by Kayne West's former business manager that he has been unable to properly serve the troubled rapper with court documents in a $4.5 million lawsuit, sparking allegations that he has gone "missing." Thomas St John, who is suing Kanye in Los Angeles for allegedly unpaid fees, informed the judge that he had been unable to locate a suitable address to serve the complaint, according to a court document.
Kanye did not appear to have an attorney to accept the papers on his behalf, according to St John who requested a time extension in a filing on December 19. St John also reported that attempts to mail the papers to three private locations had been unsuccessful. Even though Kanye was seen in public only a few days before St John filed his lawsuit, the incident still gave rise to unfounded claims that the celebrity was "missing." A tweet from the hip-hop commentary account Daily Loud indicated that: ”Kanye West has reportedly been missing and unable to find [sic] for weeks according to his ex-business manager." After his antisemitic outburst on Alex Jones' Infowars program on December 1, Kanye, who legally changed his name to Ye, has made multiple appearances in public. He was last sighted on Sunday, December 14, when a photojournalist saw him entering a church in Los Angeles as per Daily Mail.
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In order for a civil lawsuit to move forward, plaintiffs often need to demonstrate to the court that they properly notified the parties they are suing. However, defendants have occasionally purposefully eluded process servers to thwart lawsuits. According to St John's court document, he made an effort to serve Kanye by mail at "three separate addresses" in California, namely his residences in Hidden Hills, Malibu and Calabasas. The public is unaware of many additional assets that Kanye owns, including a sizable ranch in Wyoming. Ye did not seem to have a lawyer who could accept the paperwork on his behalf, according to the court record. “We were advised about a new law firm for defendants, but not a specific point of contact. We subsequently learned of information in the news that the law firm identified as new counsel was not affiliated with the defendants,” the filing stated, according to The Sun.
“Accordingly, we have not been able to serve defendants through their counsel. As a general matter, we have had difficulty confirming the best current address of Kanye West,” it added, noting that the address for the rapper's company Yeezy, LLC in state records also "did not appear to be correct". “For Mr. West, despite our diligent efforts, we were unable to ascertain his current residential address, and therefore, have not yet made attempts to serve him personally. Instead, we have attempted to service him by mail at multiple possible addresses,” the filing added. St John, the leader of the TSJ worldwide accounting firm, claimed in his lawsuit that after Kanye hired him as his business manager in March, he was refused to be paid guaranteed fees for 18 months. Upon questioning Kanye about the $300,000 retainer fee, the rapper allegedly became "heated and aggressive" and started swearing at him, claimed St John.
The lawsuit states: “He screamed at Mr. St. John and made clear he no longer wanted to work with (St. John.) When confronted by the 18-month commitment that had just been made, Mr. West stated words to the effect of The 18-month term was bulls***' and You’re insane for even thinking I would stick to it.'' According to the lawsuit, Kanye owed $900,000 as of October and will owe an extra $3.6 million when the 18-month contract expires in November 2023. After his numerous antisemitic outbursts in recent months, Ye's corporate empire, which once estimated his net worth at $1.8 billion, has fallen apart.