Kanye West Left Production Company Hanging for $7.1 Million, New Lawsuit Claims
Kanye West is facing a new lawsuit filed by a production company accusing him of owing over $7 million in outstanding fees for work on various projects over the past year.
According to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Phantom Labs says it worked with Ye between June 2021 and March 2022 on major events like the “Free Larry Hoover”/Drake reconciliation concert, a listening event for Donda 2 in Miami, and four “Sunday Service” performances. While Phantom Labs says it “was timely paid” for the first few projects they did with West, invoices eventually “began to pile up.”
A spokesperson for Phantom Labs added in a statement, “We are incredibly proud of the work that we did with Ye and are disappointed that such a fruitful relationship has come to this. A celebrity weaponizing fame and reputation to take advantage of eager collaborators is simply unacceptable.”
A rep for West did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Even as their invoices grew, Phantom says Ye and his reps “promised” they would be paid if they kept working on new projects. While they were compensated for some, the suit claims that by February 2022, Phantom was allegedly owed over $6 million. The tipping point came soon after when West’s headlining set at Coachella was canceled 11 days before the annual event.
“Just weeks after promising to make Phantom whole from the reported $9 million payday he was to receive for performing at Coachella, Ye suddenly pulled out of the festival — not only reneging on promises to pay Phantom’s multi-million-dollar balance but also saddling Phantom with an additional $1.1 million in Coachella-related cancellation fees and other expenses incurred doing work on Coachella at Defendants’ request,” the suit claims. Despite receiving multiple demand letters from Phantom, Defendants continue inexplicably to withhold payment.”
The lawsuit lists other projects and services Phantom was allegedly never paid for, including a renovation at a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles that West “used an office and creative space,” paying and handling travel, accommodation, and studio expenses for an artist West and his team allegedly “previously failed to pay”; and building a recording studio in Miami, only to have West decided he’d rather work in Los Angeles, allegedly forcing Phantom to retrofit a different space in L.A.
