Ryan Leslie hasn’t had it easy when it comes to his legal problems. Back in October 2010, Ryan Leslie lost his laptop near Cologne in Germany out of the singer’s Mercedes at a concert tour stop and immediately after, he offered to pay $1 million as a reward to anyone who returned it. In January, 2011 a 52-year-old German named Armin Augstein found it and demanded his reward when he returned the computer.
R Les refused to pay the sum after realizing that the unreleased music he thought was on the laptop was missing. His lawyer David Stefano had said, “MP3s are nothing for a producer or a studio engineer, they can’t do anything with them. They need the session files. These were his compositions.” Armin ended up suing the rapper-singer-producer for $1 million fee plus interest in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in 2012 which he won a few months later.
However, soon after, Leslie filed for bankruptcy and Augstein had been fighting to get his money ever since. Now according to court documents filed last week and obtained by The Blast, Ryan Leslie and Armin Augstein have come to an agreement that settles for all interest in the artist’s musical rights and future royalty payments to Augstein for songs he produced, wrote or recorded. Basically, everything he receives royalties for. According to the deal, Augstein will be entitled to receive up to $538,000 from the royalties. If after six years Augstein has not earned at least $300,000, he will maintain the rights to the music until he reaches that figure. Following the recovery, R Les will recover 100% of rights to his music back.
It might look like a harsh deal but hopefully, this inspires the talented musician to put out more music for the fans. Watch his latest music video ‘The Wonderful Ones’ here, which was a part of his MZRT lifetime album.
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