As artists continue to search for alternative income after a near-complete shutdown of the entertainment industry, Atlanta trio Migos claim that they have already lost out on a fortune due to “glaring conflicts of interest” between themselves and their attorney Damien Granderson. Variety reports that the group has filed a complaint against Granderson, saying he “abused his position of trust as Migos’ fiduciary from the moment he was retained as Migos’ lawyer” and “cheated [the group] out of millions of dollars.” The suit accused the attorney of professional malpractice and unjust enrichment.
The conflict of interest claim stems from the fact that Granderson also represents their current label, Quality Control Music, and favored the label in contract negotiations. Granderson also helped the group negotiate it’s now-defunct deal with 300 Entertainment, as well as the split with 300 that found them contracted to Capitol Records in 2017. They assert that the exit deal cost the group “millions of dollars” to arrange but that Granderson hid the terms of QC Music’s exclusive deal with Capitol that “would allow Capitol to distribute all albums that QCM produced and that QCM was actually profitting far more handsomely than was apparent from the face of the documents that Granderson personally presenteed to Migos for immediate execution.”
The new suit was filed by attorney Bryan Freedman, who noted that a 2018 amendment to the group’s deal with Capitol “triggered an extension of the exclusive recording agreement between QCM and Migos, which Granderson knew to contain terms that were unconscionable for Migos.” The suit also alleges Granderson took “more compensation that is customary for other laywers in the field,” while requiring little of Quality Control despite “far-above-industry-norm compensation.”
Migos haven’t specified an exact dollar amount in their complaint, but seeks recompense for the above-noted “millions of dollars” of lost income.