Jermaine Dupri gets slapped with $1 M lawsuit by former business partner over merger deal

Documents obtained by RadarOnline revealed that celebrity producer Jermaine Dupri is being sought out by an ex-business partner over provisions of their 2005 merger deal. Eddie Weathers filed a civil case against Jermaine Mauldin, Dupri's real name, over the profit-sharing of a merger deal they both entered as co-owners of Dieniahmar Music LLC. The civil lawsuit was filed at a courthouse in Georgia, the entertainment news site said.

According to court documents, Weathers made allegations that Dupri had left him out of a deal that cost the former hundreds of thousands of dollars in terms of royalties. Weathers also said that since co-owning Dieniahmar, Dupri should have split the profits evenly.

The issue between Weathers and Dupri reportedly stemmed from a series of profitable deals with EMI Music. In the lawsuit, Weathers claimed that Dupri misrepresented the company in a co-publishing deal entered by the latter with EMI Music. Dupri, at that time, reportedly told EMI that he is the sole owner of Dieniahmar, of which Weathers disputed in the lawsuit as the name of their company was derived from the combination of both his and Dupri's children, Eddie Jr., Shaniah and Kamar. Weathers is seeking to recoup the royalties Dupri and his business manager, Willie Carter, pocketed from the deal with EMI between 2006 and 2013. Carter is also named in the lawsuit.

"On April 11, 2008, Weathers received a check from Mauldin's new business manager...in the amount of $275,752.97 which represented two years of back pay royalties due to Weathers," the civil suit read. Weathers is also seeking $1 million in damages as well.

Moreover, Weathers said that Dupri also left him out of $238,000 the latter promised when Dieniahmar Music was eventually sold to EMI in 2013. The civil lawsuit stated that Weathers only received a wire amounting to $10,000 from Dupri from the merger del.

"To date, Dieniahmar, Mauldin, and Carter have failed to pay Weathers the $250,000 and all other monies due and owed to Weathers," the court docs stated.

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Jermaine Dupri lawsuit, EMI Music

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