Damon Dash is being forced to sell his Roc-A-Fella shares despite objections from his former friend and business partner, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.
A New York judge has ordered Dash to hand over his shares of the famed hip-hopfor his alleged refusal to pay a $823K judgment to movie producer Josh Weber. Dash lost Weber’s defamation and copyright infringement lawsuit following a dispute over the 2016 film “Dear Frank.” Both Jay-Z and
Roc-A-Fella co-owner Kareem “Biggs” Burke object to the ruling, citing the company bylaws that mandate approval from the board of directors to sell off shares. However, U.S. Magistrate Robert W. Lehrburger put in a 15-page decision that shut down Jay-Z’s and Burke’s objections and ruled that Dash’s one-third ownership of Roc-A-Fella is personal property that can be seized to satisfy his judgment.“The question at the core of the instant dispute is whether the
RAF Bylaws’ prohibition on transfer and sale of Dash’s one-third ownership interest in shares of RAF without the consent of RAF’s board of directors legally prevents the sale of Dash’s interest in RAF to satisfy the Judgment,” Leherburger wrote. “The answer indisputably is “no.”“Without jurisdiction to enforce a judgment entered by a federal court, the judicial power would be incomplete and entirely inadequate to the purposes for which it was conferred by the Constitution,” he added.
Dash’s legal battle with Weber ignited in 2018 when Weber fired Dash as the director of Muddy Waters Pictures film under claims that he was allegedly unfit for the job. Dash accused Weber of stealing the footage before shopping the movie to other outlets under the new name “The Last.”
Weber sued Dash in court, but after finding it a struggle to receive payment, he went after Dash’s shares of Roc-A-Fella. Weber was upset when Jay-Z and Burke adopted the no sell-off clause in 2021 during a board meeting for which Dash was not present.
Dash remains in a legal battle with his ex-wife, Rachel Roy, in an attempt to get his monthly child support payments reduced from $3,000 to $438, citing financial hardship and low income.