Lil’ Kim is suing her lawyer and business partner in Manhattan Supreme Court for $1 million, claiming that she was swindled out of endorsement money. The rapper filed suit against Sunny Barkats and his partner Andrew Ro, who allegedly tricked her into signing over nearly half of her earnings from branding and licensing transactions.
The Brooklyn-born rapper filed the lawsuit against Sunny Bakrats on Friday. She claims that Bakrats, along with friend Andrew Ro, robbed her of “valuable trademark and branding rights” in regard to liquor, makeup, and fashion endorsements.
Lil’ Kim said that Bakrats promised “multimillion dollar deals for [Kim’s] brands in the cosmetic and perfume business,” but failed to back up his claims.
Bakrats has a different story. Claiming Lil’ Kim just wanted to get out of a contract, he says her lawsuit was just “another frivolous attempt by Lil’ Kim and her attorneys to get out of what is otherwise a binding agreement.” Sunny predicted that the judge would throw out Lil’ Kim’s lawsuit.
It is more drama in the life of the diminutive rapper, who in recent years has had a beef with fellow Brooklyn rapper Nicky Minaj. The rappers traded diss tracks until Eve finally stepped in and tried to broker a truce.
“You know, it’s definitely a nice group of females that’s out representing, but because I come from hip-hop, I need more females in hip-hop,” Eve said about the feud. “Nicki definitely is holding the flag down, and a lot of people be wanting me to hate just because that’s how girls supposed to do in hip-hop, but I’m loving everything she does. But we need more females, man. There’s too much testosterone in the hip-hop game.”
In the most recent incident, Lil’ Kim claims that Bakrats and Ro had a 44 percent stake in a corporation formed to license her brand names. The rapper said that when she realized back in December that she was getting a shady deal, she tried to get out of the contracts. Bakrats refused, she claims.
