$1.2 Million Laptop Reward: Ryan Leslie Ordered By Federal Court To Pay Up

Grammy nominated artist Ryan Leslie has been ordered by a federal court to pay a $1.2 million reward to the man who found his stolen laptop.

This is the second time that Leslie has been ordered to pay the $1 million reward for the laptop.

According to ABC, Armin Augstein of Germany filed a lawsuit against the singer after Leslie refused to pay the reward. A court ruled in favor of Augstein in November, but Leslie tried to fight the verdict. Today, a federal court in Manhattan ruled again in Augustein’s favor.

The Grammy nominated singer hasn’t commented on the current verdict, but, after the first ruling in November, Leslie said that he had a good reason for not paying Augstein.

Leslie said that the reward was for the intellectual property on the hard-drive of the laptop. The musician admitted that the laptop had been returned but said that he shouldn’t have to pay because the reward was for the music files that were stored on the hard-drive.

Leslie said:

“When I plugged in that hard-drive to access everything that I had lost, the music, just wasn’t there. I couldn’t access anything. A year later, the gentleman that returned my backpack, I don’t know if it’s because he misunderstood what the reward was for, file a lawsuit in federal court demanding that I pay $1 million for music that I never got back. “

Here’s Ryan Leslie’s slow-jam response to the $1.2 million laptop reward verdict.

The Christian Post reports that Leslie’s attorney David DeStefano said that he hopes to have the verdict overturned.