Akon has paid $850,000 to his ex-business partner to settle part of an ongoing lawsuit against the rapper.
Devyne Stephens – a music executive who’s worked with Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, Usher and Pink – brought a nearly $4 million lawsuit against the “Smack That” singer in 2021, claiming that he still owed him money from a 2018 settlement agreement.
In March, Stephens asked a judge to freeze Akon’s New York assets claiming without the measure he’d have difficulty repaying debt.
The $850,000 payment resolves at least a portion of Stephens’ suit, Akon said in a statement through his rep.
“This week I fully resolved Devyne Stephens’ court application to freeze my New York assets,” Akon said in a statement. “Although I have several substantial claims that will be pursued against Stephens in the pending case, I paid him $850,000 – some of which I still challenge – to show the public that he was flat out wrong about any inability to pay the last installment of our prior settlement.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron Thursday denied Stephens’ motion for the asset freeze “as moot, as this issue has been otherwise resolved pursuant to an agreement between the parties,” according to the brief ruling.
“My work on Akon City in Africa and Akoin cryptocurrency is too important to be tarnished and harmed by Stephens,” the rapper added.
Stephens had compared Akon’s plans for a futuristic city in Senegal – replete with its own cryptocurrency dubbed Akoin – to a Ponzi scheme when he was arguing for the asset freeze.
Stephens’ lawyers wrote in court papers Wednesday that Akon only coughed up the money because a judge had indicated that it would grant Stephens’ request to freeze his assets.
The estranged partners are still duking it out in court over Stephens’ claims that the musician owes him at least $3 million in royalties.
Stephens’ lawyer didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
