Source: Courtesy of Damon Dash / Damon Dash
Dame Dash just took a significant hit to his pockets after a court ruling directing him to pay over $800,000 to the director and producers of a movie he attempted to pass off as his own.
According to reports, the verdict against the entrepreneur was issued earlier in the week after a jury found in favor of the plaintiffs, director Josh Webber and Muddy Water Pictures who made the motion picture Dear Frank. The film stars Brian White, Claudia Jordan, Nick Turturro, Lil Durk, and Columbus Short. They sued Dash in 2019 after it was discovered that he was trying to shop the movie around as his own despite being removed from the project, even to the point of sending promotional material to outlets such as BET – with the movie being under a different name, The List. Dash was directed to pay $805,000 in the judgment.
Dash had been picked to direct the movie back in 2016, but Webber and the film company removed him from the role afterward. They would claim that he was always high as they proceeded to film the movie on his property in Sherman Oaks, California. Webber fired off a rant in a post on Instagram back in 2019 about the situation, writing: “I wasn’t gonna speak on this bum but fuck him and his lies,” Webber wrote in the now-deleted post. “I won’t sit back and let this guy try to slander or bully me any longer. Truth is @duskopoppington is not a true independent artist or businessman like he tries to pretend to be.. He was HIRED by @muddfilms to ‘Direct’ the film #thelist originally as a pure marketing stunt. I was the producer of the film and asked to ensure that it actually got made by ghost directing certain aspects.”
The entrepreneur fired back through his own Instagram account, claiming that they used his home and his equipment to shoot, then stole the footage to complete the film without him. Dash would call Webber a “culture vulture” and detail those accusations, with the video showing him presumably in an argument with Webber and others.
The attorney for the plaintiffs, Chris Brown said after the ruling, “I will get every penny due to my clients.” There was no reply from Dash’s representatives when contacted by the press. This news comes as Dash is reportedly trying to reach a settlement with Jay-Z in a lawsuit over an NFT tied to the copyright behind the rapper’s iconic debut album Reasonable Doubt.