Georgia’s longest-running criminal trial finally ended when Young Thug was released on probation on November 1. However, it seems that the rapper is back in legal hot water — but this time, over his music catalog.
Young Thug is being sued for $16M
The music entertainment conglomerate known as AEG is suing Thug for the $16 million he pocketed when he sold off the copyright stakes to over 400 compositions in a 2021 publishing deal. The deal was with the music business company Kobalt Music, who assumed “administration of his publishing for works released after April 2021.”
However, AEG states they are the rightful owners of the copyrights included in the publishing deal because of a loan Thug defaulted on.
AEG claims that in 2017, they entered an agreement with Thug and his YSL label. Allegedly, Thug took a $5.25 million dollar loan to secure the global rights to promote his live shows and agreed to pay off the loan with interest. In typical legal fashion, it wasn’t a handshake deal, and Thug put his copyrights up as collateral for the deal.
Unpaid loan leads to more legal trouble
Thug allegedly defaulted on the loan, and instead of relinquishing his collateral (the copyrights), he proceeded to broker the 2021 publishing deal worth $16 million. Now, AEG wants the original sum (plus interest) along with any earnings that Thug made in selling the copyrights.
This isn’t the first time AEG has pursued legal action against Thug for the unpaid loan. By defaulting, AEG claims the rights to promote Thug’s live shows were returned to them.
In August 2022, they sued him for breach of contract for almost 6 million dollars and claimed that “even with the rights to Thug’s concerts, he continued booking shows on the side for hundreds of thousands of dollars in performance fees.”
Thug’s May 2022 arrest and YSL RICO trial put AEG’s plans to secure their bag from him on pause. Now that he is free, though, the company is putting the ATL native back in the harsh legal spotlight. The rapper has yet to respond, and it’s still up in the air whether the lawsuit will impact his probation.
