Birdman Ordered To Pay Ex-Employee $1 Million, Blew Off Court Battle
By Ryan Naumann on September 9, 2019 at 12:04 PM EDT
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Cash Money Records founder Birdman has been slapped with a $1 million-dollar judgment in the case brought by his ex-employee.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, a Florida judge granted a default judgment against Birdman in the amount of $1,069,876. The money was awarded to a man named Nicolas Jose Penzo.
Back in April 2018, Penzo sued Birdman, Cash Money Records and Pine View Management LLC.
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In his lawsuit, Penzo claimed he worked as Birdman’s property manager from 2015 until May 27, 2017.
He said his duties included painting, handling the cleaning services, and coordinating with contractors to fix things such as the electricity.
Penzo said Birdman was to pay him $150 per day. He claimed to have been worked (sometimes) from 9am to 9pm. Penzo said he worked an average of 48-60 hours a week without being properly paid for all overtime hours worked.
The Blast
He even said he was only paid every two or three months, sometimes with checks, but mostly with cash. He originally sued claiming to be owed $8,900 in unpaid wages, along with an additional $15k based on the $150 per day. His complaint sought $23,900 in damages.
Birdman never bothered to show up to court, despite Penzo serving him with the legal papers.
Penzo recently went back to court seeking a default judgment. In the new motion, he said he believes he was owed more than the $24,000. Penzo argued he was owed a total of $1,069,876.
He wrote to the judge, “The Defendant gave me several checks which were returned from his bank for insufficient funds and currently owes me $30,000 in unpaid wages, not including overtime.”
The Blast
He said, “I have suffered back pain due to the immense amount of work the Defendant required me to do. I was without work for approximately one year, suffered financially, physically, and emotionally because of the position the Defendant left me in, and therefore feel I am entitled to $1,000,000 in compensatory damages.”
The judge agreed and slapped Birdman with the judgment.
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Birdman is still in the middle of a separate $12 million-dollar legal battle over his Miami mansion. He lost the home to foreclosure but accuses the lender of wrongdoing.
