Fats Joe has filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to his former hypeman, Terrance “T.A.” Dixon, over a collection of damaging accusations, together with claims that the Bronx rapper is a pedophile.
In accordance with authorized paperwork, Dixon, who labored with Joe from 2006 to 2019, launched a wave of public assaults after claiming he was owed cash. The lawsuit alleges that Dixon started “a torrent of wholly fabricated, grotesque, and scandalous allegations — accusing [Joe] of unspeakable acts similar to pedophilia, statutory rape, and sexual assault” throughout quite a few social media posts.
Fats Joe — whose actual title is Joseph Cartagena — asserts that Dixon’s actions stem from resentment over a stalled music profession. Dixon reportedly believes Joe sabotaged his probabilities at touchdown a solo document deal and didn’t credit score him for ghostwriting and vocal contributions.
The go well with additionally names Dixon’s legal professional, Tyrone Blackburn, a controversial determine beforehand criticized by federal judges for alleged courtroom misconduct. Joe claims that earlier this 12 months, Dixon and Blackburn approached him looking for monetary compensation and threatened to file complaints accusing him of intercourse trafficking, rape, fraud, and labor violations if he didn’t pay.
Cartagena says Blackburn adopted up with threatening emails, together with one which warned he could be reported to Homeland Safety. On Instagram, Dixon additionally made a number of insinuations that Joe had inappropriate relationships with underage women.
In response to the authorized submitting, Blackburn issued an announcement calling the go well with “a baseless lawsuit in an effort to melt the blow of what’s to come back. It received’t work. Fats Joe has a whole lot of explaining to do.”
Fats Joe launched his personal assertion condemning the allegations: “These allegations are utterly false and a part of a felony conspiracy orchestrated between a disgruntled former hypeman and his legal professional. These two people have been scheming collectively to extort me with their elaborate and ludicrous calls for altering by the day. The relentless threats, harassment, and defamation I’ve endured as they peddle salacious lies are totally deplorable. I’m taking authorized motion to show their misconduct and I’m absolutely assured the details will reveal that is nothing greater than a misleading and determined rip-off.”
The rapper is represented by distinguished legal professional Joe Tacopina, who added, “The allegations in opposition to Mr. Cartagena are utterly false and a part of a felony extortion scheme orchestrated by an legal professional who a federal decide lately condemned for abusing the court docket system to harass and strain defendants.”