Festival agent sued for lying about Doechii booking and pocketing $200,000
A man has been accused of fraud after allegedly lying about securing Top Dawg Entertainment artists Doechii and SiR for a festival. A lawsuit was filed against Christopher Young on August 13th, claiming he took almost $200,000 from the show’s organiser.
Blackout Management filed the lawsuit relating to Baltimore’s AFRAM festival. The company began working with Young’s Sacrifice Management to land artists for the lineup.
According to Billboard, Young allegedly claimed to have connections to TDE and considered booking Doechii and SiR as headliners, telling Blackout he could land them with a $187,500 deposit. After making the decision, he was sent the money and confirmed that TDE agreed to the booking, but claimed the two artists dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
A statement from TDE to Blackout read, “TDE’s representative confirmed that defendant Young had been lying for months. Young never spoke to anyone at TDE about securing Doechii’s performance and had, at most, preliminary conversations about SiR.”
Young allegedly refused to pay back the $187,500 deposit and still has the money in his bank account. He’s now facing civil fraud claims, with Blackout seeking the return of the money, as well as additional damages.
“This put Blackout in a precarious situation,” the lawsuit said. “With the festival fast approaching, Blackout no longer had headliners. And one of the main supporting acts — who had agreed to perform at a discount to be billed under Doechii — now had to be paid a higher fee. Making matters worse, Young had damaged Blackout’s relationship and credibility with TDE.”
Doechii has been in demand over the past year, winning ‘Best Rap Album’ at the Grammys for Alligator Bites Never Heal and reaching number nine on the Hot 100 with her Gotye-sampling single, ‘Anxiety’.
She has shows booked across Europe to close out the summer, including some in London and Bristol, with others in France and Belgium.