Kanye West Accused of Defrauding 'Hardworking, Innocent' Fashion Workers

Kanye West is being accused of using his celebrity status to advance his scheme of defrauding "hardworking" and "innocent" workers and a fashion company is demanding he not be allowed to get away with it.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the Japanese fabric supplier Toki Sen-I Co. is responding to Kanye and Yeezy’s attempt to dismiss their lawsuit over an unpaid $624k bill.

They sued the rapper accusing his Yeezy brand of stiffing them hundreds of thousands of dollars for materials and work done for his sneaker line. Kanye says he did nothing wrong and claims they never delivered the materials. He says that’s why they didn’t get paid and asked for the case to be tossed.

Toki Sen-I Co. is firing back, saying Kanye should not be allowed to screw people over just because he is famous.

They say Kanye used his reputation and celebrity status as a tool to fraudulently deceive them into producing over $600,000 worth of fabric, only to not pay for it.

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The company points out when a celebrity as big as Kanye West’s Yeezy shoe line asks a fabric manufacturer like them to start producing immediately, they claim people are going to believe him.

Toki says Kanye may have used his celebrity status to deceive other manufactures in the past and says, “Even more worrisome, Defendants might use its celebrity status to deceive other fabric manufactures in the future.”

They want the case to move forward, plus punitive damages to "punish the wealthy Defendants for their fraudulent and malicious behavior and to set an example to deter the Defendants and similar celebrity brands from using their status to defraud hardworking, innocent, and unexpecting vendors such as the Plaintiff."

As The Blast first reported, West and his Yeezy Apparel were sued by Toki Sen-I Co, who claimed they were screwed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the Yeezy sneakers.

Toki Sen said shortly after 2015, they got into business with Kanye to deliver samples for upcoming Yeezy sneakers, and, at the time, everything went smoothly and payments were made.

However, in June 2018 Kanye placed a large order for various materials of fleece fabric, and they immediately went into production. Toki Sen wanted a down payment for the work and claimed Kanye never ponied up any money. But because of Kanye’s previous history, they did not think there would be an issue.

They claimed that Kanye later came to them and told them he would not be paying for the fabric. Toki Sen said they are owed $624,051 over the fabric, and have offered numerous payment plans to no avail.

The company also claimed Kanye’s company, Yeezy Apparel, is a “shell” and a “sham” without capital assets or member interest.

They believe Kanye West operates Yeezy Apparel to prevent himself from being personally liable for anything.

The case is ongoing.

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