New York City Says Jay-Z Is Sabotaging Damon Dash’s Roc-A-Fella Auction

Jay-Z, Damon Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994. Dash is currently auctioning off his one-third stake in the label to pay the $823,000 that he owes to film producer Josh Webber, as well as the $145,000 he owes for unpaid child support, plus a whopping $8.7 million he owes in taxes. Now, New York City says Jay-Z is sabotaging the auction.

According to AllHipHop, the rapper is allegedly making misleading claims to devalue the stock and hinder potential bids. Jay-Z publicly stated that the rights to his album Reasonable Doubt will revert to him in 2031, which the City of New York asserts is not true. The contract signed in 1995 states grants RAF ownership of the copyright until 2098. In addition, Roc-A-Fella lawyers have been accused of refusing to provide critical royalty information in response to a subpoena.

Dash called out Jay-Z in an Instagram post about the situation on Sunday. “The State of NY has stepped in and filed the following to the courts,” he began in the caption, continuing:

Jay-Z’s statements to the press have poisoned the environment for the auction. He has claimed that he has a termination right under the Copyright Act and that the rights to Reasonable Doubt will revert to him in six years. In fact, he has no such termination right and RAF is entitled to the renewal term, which is now 67 years,meaning it will own the copyright rights until the year 2098. In other words, the highest possible auction price could be more than ten times higher than is likely now, given Jay-Z’s and RAF actions. RAF is complicit by its inaction in pushing back against such false statements. Let’s see if y’all talk about that @tmz_tv @earnyourleisure @breakfastclubam