Cardi B says the gossip blogger known as Tasha K has continued to disparage her and her family despite an agreement to stop, and now she’s now asking a judge to impose “economically painful” sanctions on the host of UnWineWithTashaK.
In a new motion filed Friday and obtained by Rolling Stone, Cardi says the blogger, whose legal name is Latasha Kebe, has repeatedly ignored warnings that she’s violating a non-disparagement deal tied to her Chapter 11 plan. Under the deal, Kebe agreed not to denigrate Cardi B, born Belcalis Almánzar, or her estranged husband, Offset, born Kiari Cephus, the new filing states. For her part, Almánzar agreed to delay efforts to collect the full $3.9 million defamation judgment she won against Kebe at trial four years ago. The agreement requires Kebe to pay $1.2 million over the first five years, Rolling Stone previously reported.
According to the new motion for sanctions, Kebe started breaking the agreement shortly after it was confirmed in March. “Debtor [Latasha Kebe] has engaged in a relentless course of conduct designed to target and harass Ms. Almánzar and her family through thinly coded references, scantily veiled commentary, and strategic provocation all while knowing that her audience of over one million social media followers will immediately and universally identify Ms. Almánzar as the subject,” the filing made in Florida bankruptcy court claimed.
The Grammy-winning rapper and her lawyers say some of the references in Kebe’s social media posts involved Almánzar’s ex-boyfriend Stefon Diggs, while others referenced her alleged rivalry with Nicki Minaj. They say Kebe and her lawyer have been warned, multiple times, but that Kebe has posted comments about Cephus multiple times over the last week, and as recently as “less than an hour before [their] motion was filed.”
In a video posted on X Friday, Kebe let out a laugh and said, “Offset works at the casino, he is down there five days a week, clocking in.” She claimed that “he uses everybody else’s money to gamble with. I was told he would probably still be in a certain relationship if he wasn’t gambling away all that money.” She further stated that shortly before he was injured during a shooting at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on Monday, he had lost a large amount of money.
Cardi’s lawyers say they’ve been forced to constantly monitor Kebe’s social media for alleged violations amid an ongoing “cat and mouse” game over the last year. They’ve documented more than two dozen “egregious violations” of the non-disparagement clause, they allege.
“Debtor still believes that she is above the law, consequences, and is invulnerable,” the filing says. “And what makes this pattern of defiance particularly egregious is not merely the violations themselves, but what debtor has openly admitted in public broadcasts. … She has made clear that she intends to resume harassment of Ms. Almánzar once her debt is paid off.”
Kebe’s lawyer, Chad Van Horn, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to Rolling Stone last year, he called his client’s bankruptcy plan a “milestone” agreement. He said Kebe’s unsecured creditors, not including Almánzar, were set to receive about 30 percent of their allowed claims.
“By reaching this agreement, all parties can avoid prolonged litigation — fulfilling bankruptcy’s essential purpose. This resolution also enables Ms. Kebe to focus on her work while repaying creditors in an organized manner,” he said.
In the underlying libel and defamation lawsuit that led to the $3.9 million defamation judgment, Almánzar said Kebe’s “campaign of slander” involved demonstrably false allegations that Almánzar had herpes, used cocaine, and worked as a prostitute. Taking the witness stand to plead her case, Almánzar testified that she suffered extreme “anxiety” and depression after Kebe posted several YouTube videos with the false statements. She told jurors that severe stress caused her weight to fluctuate and led to issues in her personal relationships, a courtroom source told Rolling Stone.
In her Friday filing, Almánzar said she’s seeking attorneys’ fees as well as “coercive or remedial sanctions to ensure future compliance, including monetary penalties for future violations.” She said the “burden” of policing Kebe will fall on her shoulders “unless the court intervenes.”
“Without concrete sanctions that make violations economically painful, debtor has every incentive to continue precisely as she has been: post in violation of the plan and confirmation order, generate views and revenue, belatedly retract only when caught, and repeat,” the 46-page filing reads.
www.rollingstone.com
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