Harlem rapper Azealia Banks is now counter suing her former manager and label head with a claim that he breached his contract and committed fraud against her.
The artist filed her dispute in a Los Angeles County Superior Court, hoping to prove that she has been wronged by the music executive and not the other way around.
Yahoo! Entertainment reports that Jeff Kwatinetz sued Banks in 2020, alleging that she stalked him and defamed his character.
Banks is shooting back, be it a year later, and saying that the older man wooed her into giving him the rights to her music.
The complaint reads, “[Kwatinetz] attempted to control and manipulate Banks so he could eventually steal from her, by charming the 23-year-old from Harlem and attempting to convince her that he loved her. He would repeatedly tell her in e-mails that he loved her, had sleepovers with her, and sent her gifts.”
At the time, Kwatinetz was 26 years the senior to the “Chasing Time” emcee.
She further states in the claim that the 49-year-old blurred “the lines between a fiduciary and a romantic suitor so that he could take financial advantage” of her.
One of the oddest revelations in the filing is that the Prospect Park label head shared with her that he stopped working with Kelly Clarkson because she was in love with him and could not handle criticism from the executive.
An excerpt from the alleged email sent to Banks about the American Idol star purportedly read, “She fired me [because] unbeknownst to me she was in love with me and when I told her to start working out because she had a lot of TV coming up, she took it that I was calling her fat and fired me.”
Considering the business side of the lawsuit, Banks claims that Kwatinetz owes her big time for unpaid revenue from her albums.
She said in the docs that he paid her on July 1st, 2020, the “minuscule sum of $15,344.94,” however according to her documents he has made $1,490,460 off her music and owes her $1,296,330 in total costs and expenses.
A rep from Kwatinetz’s office shared via a statement to Rolling Stone this thought about the case and the artist.
“Ms. Banks is a talented artist, but she has been acting irresponsibly and dangerously for years … Ms. Banks’ cross-complaint has no merit and is nothing more than a PR stunt. Mr. Kwatinetz will vindicate his rights in court, where he will prove that Ms. Banks’ allegations are false and slanderous.”
On Sept. 24th, 2020, Kwatinetz sued Banks for defamation and stalking. A year later, on Sept. 20th, 2021, he filed a follow-up complaint for defamation, trade libel, and stalking.