Kanye West Accused Of Using His Celebrity To Defraud Fashion Workers

A Japanese fabric supplier sued Kanye West for failing to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars, but West dismissed the situation, saying he never got what he ordered. Now, the company is pushing back, saying that Kanye is using his fame to avoid paying all the “hardworking” and “innocent” workers who made the fabric for the singer’s shoes.

Earlier this year, Toki Sen-I Company sued West, saying that he had failed to pay over $624,000 for fabric that they produced in June 2018. West and his company replied to the lawsuit, saying the product was never delivered and asked the judge to dismiss the case, according to The Blast. The company said that they got into business with West in 2015 and everything went according to plan. But a few years later, when the rapper placed an order for more fabric, things took a turn.

West says that the company is just trying to get money they didn’t earn and they can’t show what part of the contract he breached.

“Plaintiff never delivered the allegedly contracted-for product, and Yeezy Apparel allegedly did not pay the full price for that undelivered product. Despite being a basic business dispute between companies, Plaintiff needlessly inflates this case into a 4-count complaint under both tort and contract theories, baselessly including the celebrity member of Yeezy Apparel (Mr. West),” the West reply reads. “At the outset, because Plaintiff has not clearly pleaded the terms of a contract, it is unclear which of the contractual terms alleged was purportedly breached.”

The company fought back, saying that they didn’t demand a down payment from Yeezy’s shoe line because they trusted that a business run by someone as famous as West would be good for his debts. They say that West abused this trust and his celebrity status to get away with not paying the workers who made the fabric.

“Even more worrisome, Defendants might use its celebrity status to deceive other fabric manufactures in the future,” the company’s latest response says, according to The Blast.

Now the company is asking that the case move forward so that they can prevent someone like West from abusing their celebrity status in the future. They say that they want to “punish the wealthy Defendants” for their misbehavior as a way to set an example to deter people from defrauding vendors in the future.

Toki Sen-I Co. also said that they believe Yeezy Apparel is a shell company created to protect West from having to pay up.