Damon Dash’s 33% stake in Roc-A-Fella Records to go up for auction for at least $1.2m (report)

Damon Dash’s 33.3% stake in Roc-A-Fella Records is set to be auctioned off later this month after the record executive failed to pay an $823,000 settlement two years ago.

That’s according to multiple reports, citing federal court filings. Billboard reports that the United States Marshals Service will auction off the stake to satisfy a judgment against Dash in a legal battle with film producer Josh Webber over a botched film deal.

The auction, scheduled for August 29 at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, will reportedly start with a minimum bid of $1.2 million. Prospective bidders must post a $240,000 deposit to participate in the proceedings, Billboard noted.

Founded in 1994 by Jay-Z, Damon Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, Roc-A-Fella Records has signed and released albums for artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Cam’ron and Jadakiss.

In 2021, Roc-A-Fella sued Dash for attempting to auction off an NFT representing Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt via NFT platform SuperFarm. In response, Dash insisted that he was not planning to sell the entire album as an NFT, but rather a “one-third share which I own through my one-third ownership of Roc-A-Fella Records”.

In 2022, Dash was embroiled in another legal dispute when film producer Josh Webber sued him for copyright infringement over the 2019 movie Dear Frank. Dash was accused of trying to sell the film as his own, presenting it to various companies under a different title.

Webber and Muddy Water Pictures eventually won the case. However, Webber claimed that Dash refused to pay the owed amount and sought the court’s assistance in forcing Dash to auction his Roc-A-Fella shares.

Meanwhile, a source reportedly told Billboard that the shares might come with some key limitations.

“Whomever buys Dame’s stake in Roc-A-Fella will be a minority owner without authority over any decision-making,” the source reportedly told Billboard. “They won’t have the ability to sell the copyright or borrow against the master as all decisions require majority vote.”

Christopher Brown, a lawyer at Brown & Rosen who represented Webber in his lawsuit against Dash, told Rolling Stone in April that Dash’s “shares have actually been assigned to United States Marshal, [at] my request… So he actually doesn’t have anything to sell. He’s not even in possession of this stock.”

Brown’s statement at the time sought to clarify reports about Dash saying he is spearheading the auction.

Another lawyer, Richard Roth of The Roth Law Firm, told Rolling Stone in April: “The only thing that would maybe slow it down would be a bankruptcy. If he files a bankruptcy, that could stop everything from happening. But other than that, these shares are going to be sold and sold to the highest bidder. And if the price is greater than the amount that the creditor is owed, then he’ll get the balance. If it’s less than the amount, the shares are gone and he gets nothing.”

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