Rapper and well-known media figure Curtis Jackson, better known by his stage as 50 Cent, has sued Beam Suntory for US$6 million alleging misappropriation.
The owner of the Jim Beam and Makers Mark bourbons is accused of conspiring for a number of years to overcharge his Sire Spirits company. He claims he suffered significant losses as a result.
The two most popular brands of Sire Spirits are Le Chemin du Roi Champagne and Branson Cognac.
It alleges that exorbitant costs were included into the prices of products and that 50 Cent's company overpaid $6 million in taxes, customs, and insurance, among other fees.
It asserts that Julious Grant, the former chief commercial officer of Beam, who departed the firm in 2019, was a key player in managing the plan that also featur....
...club promoter Michael "Lord Michael" Caruso and got an annual payment of $500,000 from Beam Suntory.
The reason 50 Cent thinks there was a purposeful attempt to destroy Sire Spirits was that if it had failed, it would have hidden the supposed embezzlement plan.
In a TV interview, 50 Cent stated, "This is the kind of stuff that happens and slows down new companies when they're coming in because I guess it prevents them from growing fast enough."