Authorities in New York on Wednesday arrested and charged Tyrone Blackburn, an attorney for Fat Joe’s former hype man, after he allegedly struck a process server with his vehicle.
Per NBC News, Blackburn, 40, who is said to have committed the alleged crime in New York City, has since been charged with assault in connection with the incident.
Fat Joe’s former hype man, Terrance “T.A.” Dixon and Blackburn, have been embroiled in a legal battle with the veteran New York rapper, and the attorney’s Wednesday arrest adds up to their ongoing dispute.
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Joe Tacopina, who is Fat Joe’s attorney, stated that Dixon and Blackburn initially wrote to the rapper on March 23 and demanded that Dixon be paid for ghostwriting and providing uncredited vocals on some songs owned by Fat Joe.
But Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena, paid no heed to the contents of that document. On April 21, however, a subsequent demand letter was sent by Blackburn and Dixon. In that letter, they threatened to sue the Lean Back rapper for the unpaid wages as well as rape, forced labor, sex trafficking and fraud. Besides describing those allegations as “false and outrageous,” Tacopina claimed that they were fabricated “with utter disregard for truth or decency.”
In April, Fat Joe, 54, ultimately filed a lawsuit against Dixon and Blackburn, accusing the pair of extortion, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, NBC News reported.
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Tacopina claimed Blackburn struck the process server with his car when the victim was handing over those documents to him. Tacopina stated that on Thursday, June 19, a warrant for Blackburn’s arrest was issued, adding that it was the same day Fat Joe was hit with a $20 million lawsuit from the same attorney and Dixon.
In the lawsuit, Fat Joe is accused of forcing Dixon to perform thousands of sex acts with women, per NBC News. Dixon also claims that he was not paid what he deserved, threatened, and denied songwriting credits.
But Tacopina in a statement on Wednesday described those allegations as “complete fabrications” that were made to taint Fat Joe’s image.
“Tyrone Blackburn’s arrest comes as no surprise to me — it’s just the latest example of his malicious and manipulative pattern of misconduct finally coming to light,” Tacopina said.
“Blackburn is an embarrassment to the legal profession and it’s a disgrace watching him use the court system to shield his extortion tactics. This is exactly why Mr. Cartagena proactively sued Blackburn and his client Terrance Dixon in April because he knew they intended to try to destroy his reputation by peddling salacious lies,” Tacopina added.
“Today’s arrest is just the first step, but I’m confident that my client’s name will be cleared from all of these falsehoods and Blackburn will be brought to justice once and for all.”
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