Fat Joe faces explosive sex trafficking lawsuit from former hype man
Another famous rapper has been his with a RICO charge, this time in civil court.
Fat Joe is being sued by his former hype man, Terrance "T.A." Dixon, for over a decade of alleged abuse and demanding up to $20 million in damages.
In a lengthy complaint filed in federal court Thursday, June 19, lawyers for Dixon accused the Bronx-based rapper, whose legal name is Joseph Cartagena, of a "deliberate and sustained campaign of exploitation."
So graphic was the 157-page filing detailing Cartagena's alleged campaign of abuse and criminality that it contains a "trigger warning" in bright red text at the top alerting of the depictions of sex trafficking and assault that follow.
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"Fat Joe is Sean Combs minus the Tusi," Tyrone Blackburn, Dixon's lawyer, wrote in a statement to USA TODAY June 20, referencing Sean "Diddy" Combs' ongoing criminal RICO case in which the music mogul is accused of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. "Tusi" is a variety of cocaine.
"We have three additional pages of predicated acts which we are itching to disclose if the defendants call our bluff," Blackburn wrote. He is also representing rapper Lil Rodney in a separate case against Combs.
Joe Tacopina, Cartagena's lawyer, called the lawsuit "a blatant act of retaliation," in a statement to USA TODAY June 20.
Referencing Cartagena's own civil suit against Dixon, in which he accused his former employee of extortion, Tacopina wrote: "We didn't just sue a disgruntled former employee trying to revive a false claim from 15 years ago — we sued the lawyer behind it all. Tyrone Blackburn has a well-documented pattern of abusing the courts to harass defendants and generate media attention."
"Law enforcement is aware of the extortionate demand at the heart of this scheme. The allegations against Mr. Cartagena are complete fabrications — lies intended to damage his reputation and force a settlement through public pressure," Tacopina wrote. "Mr. Cartagena will not be intimidated. We have taken legal action to expose this fraudulent campaign and hold everyone involved accountable."
Who is Terrence Dixon and why is he suing Fat Joe?
Dixon, according to the filing, worked for Cartagena for 16 years in various capacities, including as a lyricist and creative partner, labor for which the lawsuit alleges he was never compensated or credited.
Beyond a run-of-the-mill employment dispute, Dixon's complaint claims that Cartagena oversaw a criminal enterprise, buoyed by violence and intimidation, in which Dixon was forced into performing sex acts "under duress and surveillance."
Cartagena and his associates threatened to abandon Dixon in foreign countries if he did not comply, the complaint alleges, and systematically underpaid him, committing tax fraud in the process by inflating his wages in reports to the IRS.
Like many RICO cases, which were originally designed to help the government unravel multi-state gang operations, Dixon's complaint tells a complex tale of criminality. It ties together a small sneaker store in New York allegedly laundering money, fake Instagram accounts designed to harass Dixon into silence, and highly orchestrated sexual performances, which Cartagena allegedly recorded.
While this RICO case is civil, brought by one party against another, many are federal, brought by lawyers for the government against an individual as in the high profile cases of Combs, rapper Young Thug and President Donald Trump.
"Sexual compliance became a condition of (Dixon's) continued employment, access to essential resources, safe travel, and basic human dignity," Cartagena's filing reads, alleging that over the course of his employment, Dixon was forced into 4,000 unwanted sexual encounters.
Lawyers for Dixon also allege that Cartagena engaged in sex with minors, some as young as fifteen and sixteen years old. In a series of explosive claims, the filing alleges that Cartagena paid for cosmetic surgery for one of the minors, exchanged money for a cell phone bill for sexual favors from another and contemplated leaving his wife for one of the young girls.
"Cartagena has demonstrated a disturbing lack of remorse or discretion regardinghis predatory behavior," lawyers for Dixon argue. "Rather than conceal his actions, he has, on multiple occasions, alluded to or openly referenced sexually inappropriate conduct in his public persona and artistic output."
Referencing Cartagena's hit track "She's My Mama," the filing claims the lyrics demonstrate a clear fascination with underage women. The choice to use lyrics as evidence, particularly in a RICO case, is rich with controversy, following Young Thug's trial in Georgia in which the rapper's verses were used to demonstrate a propensity for violent behavior.
Looping in high-profile political figures, the lawsuit alleges Cartagena used his connections to figures like former Vice President Kamala Harris, President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Eric Adams to bolster his sense of power and impunity. The filing includes a photo of Adams gifting Cartagena a key to the city – a symbolic gesture also afforded to Combs.
Another photo shows Clinton allegedly wearing a pair of shoes that Cartagena gifted him, which, unbeknownst to the former president, bore the name of the criminal enterprise.
The lawsuit, which is both wide-ranging and starkly detailed, paints a picture with its multifold accusations of a powerful man in entertainment who, behind the scenes, was both a bully and a sexual abuser, intent on using his influence to secure silence and compliance.
Fat Joe rose to fame in the 1990s, forming the rap group Terror Squad and a label by the same name. His hit tracks include "What's Luv" which features Ja Rule and Ashanti and "Lean Back," which became a dance sensation.
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