Kanye West Subpoenaed In Fraud Trial Involving Ex Employee

Ye might have to make a court appearance in his hometown of Chicago. He may not be involved with the case, but his testimony may be useful to a jury in the ongoing fraud case his former employee.

According to a report the Chicago Tribune published on Thursday, March 10, Ye, who legally dropped his birth name Kanye West last year, has been revealed as "Musician A" in the fraud case against Arjun Dhillon. Dhillon is a former employee who allegedly scammed a Florida-based philanthropist into sending him a quarter of a million dollars. The indictment against Dhillon was filed back in January 2020, but Ye's identity was purposely kept a secret during the litigation until now.

During a status hearing for the case, Dhillon's attorney Sheldon Zenner said that his team has subpoenaed Ye's legal representation, Pryor Cashman LLP, for records regarding communication the firm had about the case. Zenner also subpoenaed the Donda 2 rapper himself. However, Ye's team has refused to provide documents and hasn't given Ye any paperwork regarding the case. That's when U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin ruled that Cashman should accept the subpoena and motion to quash it if necessary.

With jury selection quickly approaching on April 4, AUSA Brian Havey also suggested to drop the “Jail” rapper’smoniker used in the court documents ad lis him as a possible witness so that potential jurors can be screened for any type of conflicts of interest. It would also give them the opportunity to hire proper security needed to handle Ye’s day in court. The proescution has until March 24 to turn in their witness list and submit questions for hte potential jurors.

Dhillon stands accused of allegedly conning wealty philanthropist Bill Pulte, who’s the grandson of the late founder of Detroit home-building company PulteGroup, into wiring him $250,000 under false pretenses in 2019. The defendant told Pulte to wire the money to a bank account he said belonged to one of Ye’s companies. He even provided emails between him and Ye to help convince him even though the G.O.O.D. Music founder cut ties with Dhillon in 2018. After the transfer was made, Pulte’s bank flagged the transfer. That’s when Dhillon falsely associated himself to Ye in order to keep the bank from returning the money.