Rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s liquor company, Sire Spirits, is embroiled in a legal battle against former employee Mitchell Green, who owes the firm nearly $7 million after embezzling funds.
The company is now challenging Green’s attempt to discharge this debt through bankruptcy, citing that the obligation arose from fraudulent activities, which cannot be discharged according to bankruptcy laws.
Green held a crucial position at Sire Spirits, acting as the principal liaison with the company’s French suppliers.
However, he betrayed this trust by colluding with these suppliers, artificially inflating the amount Sire Spirits paid, and funneling the excess fees to himself and his co-conspirators.
“Mr. Green was paid twice for doing a single job—once via the six-figure
salary and benefits Sire Spirits paid to him as an employee, and then again via the millions of dollars in “agency fees” he negotiated under the table and embezzled from Sire Spirits,” 50 Cent’s lawyer James Berman explained. “Because Mr. Green abused his position of trust, Sire Spirits was completely unaware that the per-bottle cost it paid had so-called “agency fees” buried in the price. Mr. Green’s greed, in fact, knew no bounds.”
After years of this fraudulent activity, Green confessed to his misdeeds when he claimed he was being extorted by a co-conspirator.
Sire Spirits took legal action, and an arbitration proceeding found Green liable for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and unjust enrichment, leading to a judgment of $6,194,293.
Green, on the other hand, responded by filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This move temporarily stalled 50 Cent’s efforts to collect the debt, but Sire Spirits is undeterred.
Sire Spirits aims to prevent this debt from being discharged in Green’s bankruptcy case, citing provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code prohibiting the discharge of debts stemming from fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
According to the law, a debt “for money, property, services, or an extension, renewal, or refinancing of credit, to the extent obtained by false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud” cannot be discharged.
Even worse for Green, the law says money obtained by “fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement, or larceny” cannot be discharged either.
In March of 2023, 50 Cent, known for his social media presence, took to Instagram to taunt his former employee.
Amidst plans to seize Green’s assets, the rapper contemplated the changes he would make to Green’s home, even suggesting he would keep the family pictures as a theme for the place.
