Young Thug Sued Over Concert Canceled Because of His Arrest
The June 18 concert at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena was scrapped after the rapper was taken into custody in a sweeping RICO case.
Young Thug attends the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on Oct. 1, 2021 in Atlanta.
Paras Griffin/GI for BET
Young Thug and his company are facing a new civil lawsuit that claims they’ve failed to pay back a concert organizer for a June event that was canceled because of the rapper’s arrest on felony racketeering charges.
In a complaint filed last week in Georgia court, A-1 Concert Entertainment claims it paid a $150,000 deposit to Young Thug and YSL Touring LLC to secure his performance at a June 18 concert at State Farm Arena, but that the show obviously never went down after the rapper was arrested as part of a sweeping criminal case against alleged Atlanta gang members.
In its lawsuit, A-1 says owner A’lencio Graham “reached out to YSL seeking reimbursement” and was repeatedly “assured that he would receive a refund of the funds,” but that the money has not yet been paid back.
The contract struck between Young Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) and A-1 “specifically allows for the reimbursement of funds in the event that Williams’ cancels,” the suit says.
“Defendants breached the agreement by cancelling the performance on May 9, 2022, when Williams was arrested on numerous felonies charges,” A-1’s lawyers wrote. “Defendants breached the agreement, when they failed to reimburse the Plaintiff the $150,000 deposit paid.”
On May 9, prosecutors unveiled an 88-page indictment against Young Thug, Gunna and 26 others, claiming that their “YSL” was not a record label called “Young Stoner Life” but really a violent street gang called “Young Slime Life” that had wrought “havoc” on Atlanta for the past decade. The charges included allegations of murder, carjacking, armed robbery, drug dealing and illegal firearm possession.
Both Young Thug and Gunna (real name Sergio Kitchens) have pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys have vowed to clear their names at trial, which is currently scheduled for early next year.
The case is built around Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law based on the more famous federal RICO statute that’s been used to target the mafia, drug cartels and other forms of organized crime. Such laws make it easier for prosecutors to sweep up many members of an alleged criminal conspiracy based on many smaller acts that aren’t directly related.
Young Thug and Gunna have been in jail ever since their initial arrests. Their attorneys have repeatedly pressed for pre-trial release, but both men have been denied bond after prosecutors warned about the potential for witness intimidation.
An attorney for Young Thug did not immediately return a request for comment on the new lawsuit.
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