It looks like Iggy Azalea is the latest celeb to be victimized by stolen personal property, but she’s not going to take it lying down.
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News spread throughout the internet last week that a sex tape alleged to be of Azalea was being shopped to Vivid Entertainment, but the rapper is now launching legal action against the ex-boyfriend who is reportedly in possession of the video and is alleging that he has taken more from her than just intimate images, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
A complaint filed by Azalea says that a man named Maurice Williams, otherwise known by his rapper name, Jefe Wine, “downloaded the entire contents of Azalea’s personal computer” when the two were dating and living together in 2008. The suit does not make mention of the sex tape, but it does say that Williams has violated her copyright, trademark, name and likeness when it comes to her music. Azalea’s team previously stated that if Azalea does appear in any footage, it was shot without her consent when she was underage.
It seems that around the time Azalea’s single, “Fancy,” became a smash hit, songs from an EP titled Inizio began showing up on iTunes, Pandora, Spotify and other places online without the consent of Azalea’s team. In July, a press release turned up stating that companies Primco, ESMG, Top Sail and Wine Enterprises, Inc., had “secured rights” to the EP and Williams even went so far as to say, “The projects we have coming down the pipeline are going to shock the world!”
Azalea’s label, Universal Music, sent out cease and desist letters to no avail and Williams insisted he had a signed agreement that gave him “exclusive rights to manufacture, sell, distribute and advertise ‘any’ recording embodying visual images” of the pop star. The lawsuit states the agreement is an old contract from a former manager that has been doctored and Williams has committed forgery.
If the forgery and theft allegations launched by Azalea’s camp are true, this guy sounds like a real peach. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Williams was married with children when he started dating a then-17-year-old Azalea in 2008. He also reportedly told Azalea he was a partner in an oil company, but what he failed to mention was the alleged oil company had been ordered to pay civil penalties of $3.6 million for “operating in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme,” according to Azalea’s lawyers.
If Williams does, in fact, have a legitimate contract that gives him rights to Azalea’s artistic property and he’s not running a scam to cash in, why is he peddling a sex tape, as well? If Azalea’s allegations are false, bringing the sex tape into the mix at this point in time muddies his case and just makes him look like a jerk.
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