A leasing company, GTFM, who dragged Akon to court following an agreement in July 2012, have been awarded $164,786.99, which is a default judgement over Akon’s refusal to respond to the lawsuit.
From the document obtained by TMZ, Akon agreed to pay $25k per month for some space on the 66th floor of the Empire State Building for his fashion line, Aliaune Milano, and did so until July of 2015 when he stopped paying rent. GTFM claims Akon’s company finally left in January of 2016, owing almost 7 months of rent.
This lawsuit isn’t the first of Akon’s legal woes, as he was sued last year by the music executive who helped him launch his career as well as Konvict Music, Devyne Stephens, who claimed that Akon contractually owed him $150 million (or 40%) out of the $400 million or so he had made in the decade.
This report comes just a day after Akon was in the news for saying he could have helped Puerto Rico restore energy & electricity within 30 days, but they were rejected by the United States Government.
“We actually presented a program for Puerto Rico and we got rejected,” Akon told TMZ. “We have the solution for Puerto Rico, clearly. We would’ve had power up in less than 30 days and they rejected us.”
The “Mama Africa” rapper previously attained praise and success for his efforts that brought electricity to rural areas of countries like Madagascar, Mali, and his hometown Senegal.
According to the Huffington Post, Akon’s electric journey sought to place the power within the hands of people who’ve had to live without this amenity. In 2016, he established the Solar Academy in Bamako, Mali. Through solar-powered inventions, engineers hit the ground running to find ways to bring 600 million Africans power.
At the end of January, ABC News reports 450,000 Puerto Ricans were still waiting for full power restoration.
