Washed-up rap mogul who founded hit-making record label with Jay-Z on cusp of losing it all — or going to jail

New York Post

02-05-2025

Ex-Jay-Z partner and Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash could lose everything — or even end up in jail — after allegedly trying to get out of paying $1 million to creditors by hiding money, destroying evidence and refusing to comply with court orders.
The washed-up rap mogul has allegedly sought to evade paying out a pair of judgments handed down in Manhattan federal court by claiming he owns nothing — not even the flashy jewelry he's worn for decades.
But Dash's apparent hopes for evading the payouts were dashed when the judges in each of the cases on Monday ordered him to either face the music, or the handcuffs of a US Marshal.
'If Defendants fail to comply,' Judge Robert Lehrburger wrote in his ruling, 'the Court will find Defendants in contempt and may issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Dash' to haul him to court to answer the claims.
5 Former Jay-Z business buddy Damon Dash got handed a pair of judicial orders slamming him for destroying evidence and not complying with court orders.
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Dash has allegedly dodged paying a nearly $900,000 judgement in that lawsuit — a defamation claim brought by filmmaker Josh Webber — by slow-walking demands to reveal his assets, since a jury found him guilty back in 2022.
'He's not turning over the evidence relating to the companies that he claims he owns on his tax returns,' says attorney Chris Brown, who represents Webber an another client with a case against Dash.
The fallen producer also got ripped in that lawsuit by a federal judge — who ruled that Dash had destroyed evidence 'highly relevant to current and future litigation.'
In that case, Dash was accused by jilted author Edwyna Brooks of fraudulently hiding funds to dodge paying her a nearly $100,000 judgment.
Brooks, who won a previous $300,000 copyright infringement case against Dash in 2020, was looking to collect the judgement from a failed countersuit he filed, but claimed he was keeping his assets hidden in a web of corporate transfers.
'There is no meaningful way to cure this prejudice short of awarding default judgement,' Judge Jed Radkoff wrote Monday, ruling in favor of Brooks, who is also represented by Brown.
5 Jay-Z and Damon Dash attending the 'How To Be A Player' party at the Palladium, N.Y.C. August 1997.
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The attorney — who claimed he is also owed $125,000 in his own defamation case against Dash — said the record executive needs to fess up and admit he owns fancy duds that could go toward paying the judgements.
'He's saying: 'I don't know whose necklace this is around my neck. I don't know who's diamond watch this is on my wrist. I don't know whose diamond earrings these are in my ears,'' Brown told The Post. 'I show him wearing the Rock-A-Fella chains that were made back in the early 2000s. He says he doesn't know who owns those.'
5 Director Josh Webber won a jury trial against Dash for defamation in Manhattan, and sued him for defamation a second time in California for comments he made following the New York verdict.
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Dash's alleged latest delay tactic appears focused on an intention to file for bankruptcy — but never actually doing so, court documents show.
Even if Dash finally files for bankruptcy, Brown said, he'll find out, like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani did, that 'bankruptcy laws will not allow you to discharge that debt,' since they were part of an 'intentional tort.'
Dash's 'failure to timely cooperate with our Firm and respond to these requests' has even led his attorney of the last six years to ask permission to drop the difficult Dash, the lawyer, Natraj S. Bhushan, wrote in a court filing.
5 'He's saying: 'I don't know whose necklace this is around my neck. I don't know who's diamond watch this is on my wrist. I don't know whose diamond earrings these are in my ears,' says the attorney trying to collect roughly $5 million in legal judgements against Dash.
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But Lehrburger, who threatened Dash with arrest, wrote that he would not allow his lawyers to jettison Dash right away, since his commitment to 'drawing out and evading enforcement proceedings' are part of a 'strategy.'
'Moreover, there is no reason to believe that Defendants would cooperate with new counsel any more than with current counsel, who has represented Defendants in these proceedings since they began approximately six years ago,' Lehrburger wrote.
5 Damon Dash, Jay-Z and others at one of Sean Comb's notorious 'white parties' on July 4, 2000.
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What appears to be a simple order has major implications for Dash — who owes roughly $5 million in outstanding legal judgments, said Brown.
The attorney said the default judgement grants him and Brooks their contention that the company Dash created to allegedly hide his assets and avoid judgements construed a fraudulent transfer of assets.
'Everybody was saying we don't have any money,' Brown said. 'Now I can collect all of my other judgments.'
Brown also represents Webber in a California defamation case where a judge awarded him $4 million last month.
Representatives for Dash did not reply to a request for comment.
Dash and the famed Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records —which made hits such as 'Hard Knock Life' and '99 Problems' — in 1994 but have since had a falling out over finances.
Last fall, New York State bought up Dash's share in Rock-A-Fella Records at an auction for $1 million, in a effort to collect the $8.7 million he owes the state in back taxes.