'Love & Hip Hop' Star A1 Bentley Sued For $1.8 Million By Artist For Alleged Fraud
By Ryan Naumann on May 12, 2020 at 4:09 PM EDT
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“Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” star A1 Bentley is accused of crushing an 18-year-old’s dreams of becoming a star and draining her father’s life savings in the process.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, an artist named Carley Marie Masten and Jeffrey Masten are suing Floyd Bentley aka A1 Bentley and Sound Entertainment.
The suit accuses the music producer of breach of contract, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation and conversation.
In the suit, Jeffrey explains Carly is his daughter who performs under the name “C’ Marie.” The two claim A1 was “a music producer with a reputation as a credible professional with hit songs to his name and was seen as an establish star in the entertainment industry. Defendant Bentley’s credits include songs with renowned artists of the likes of Usher, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla Sign, Wiz Khalifa, and G-Eazy.”
They accuse him of having “quickly transitioned from star producer to one who began to lose his luster and become so desperate to make money he no longer cares about doing quality work, just stealing money from inexperienced people hoping to get into the music industry (as the Plaintiffs both were when they met Defendant Bentley.)”
In August 2018, they claim A1 “induced” 18-year-old C’Marie to sign a producer contract. He claimed he would produce, write and record songs for C’Marie and “promote and develop her career as well.”
C’Marie says the producer promised to make her and would help her get a record deal, which they say never materialized.
The singer says A1 “induced” her to pay a total of $376,000. She says the producer took advantage of her father’s love for her and desire to make her dreams come true.
She claims her dad spent his “life savings” to give C”Marie the chance to needed to succeed in the music industry. A1 allegedly said the money was to producer a 12-song album, 3 music videos, concert tour, and radio promotion.
C’Marie says A1 never finished her album, did not complete the 3 videos and did not promote her music on the radio.
She claims he promised to have her open for T-Pain on his tour. C’Marie believes he never intended for her to open and always planned for his wife, Lyrica Anderson, to be the opening act.
The suit accuses A1 of promising to get C’Marie featured on “Love & Hip Hop” but that never happened. C’Marie and her father are suing for the return of $376,400 paid to A1 plus $1.5 million in punitive damages.
