A federal choose guidelines that, regardless of submitting for chapter, the YouTuber who defamed Cardi B remains to be on the hook for over $3.4 million.
YouTuber Tasha Ok should nonetheless pay Cardi B the greater than $3.4 million she owes within the defamation judgement dominated in January 2022, regardless of submitting for Chapter 11 chapter earlier this yr. Latasha Kebe, a YouTube gossip vlogger underneath the title Tasha Ok, filed for chapter in Could this yr, 18 months after a federal choose dominated in Cardi B’s favor in an almost $4 million defamation lawsuit towards Kebe.
However Choose Scott M. Grossman dominated on Thursday, October 5, that Kebe can’t “discharge” the $3.4 million owed to Cardi B via her Chapter 11 submitting — so she’ll nonetheless be on the hook for the funds even after exiting chapter. Whereas chapter legislation permits bancrupt people to evade sure money owed, cash owed due to “willful and malicious damage” brought on to others is an exception.
Attorneys for Cardi B insisted that the exception undoubtedly utilized right here, as Kebe incurred the debt via “spreading false and defamatory statements” supposed to trigger profession harm to their consumer. Kebe’s legal professionals provided no rebuttal, and Choose Grossman dominated on Friday that the cash owed was ineligible for discharge.
The ruling pertains to $3.4 million of the $3.9 million judgement — Tasha Ok’s firm, Kebe Studios LLC, owes the remaining $500,000. Future proceedings earlier than the chapter court docket will decide whether or not Kebe herself is on the hook for that cash.
The lawsuit stems from 2019 when Cardi B, whose actual title is Belcalis Almanzar, sued Latasha Kebe over a “malicious marketing campaign” on social media and in YouTube movies geared toward harming the star’s repute. Cardi B’s attorneys had tried and failed repeatedly to have Tasha Ok’s movies taken down; the lawsuit cites movies saying the star had herpes, that she had been a prostitute, had accomplished exhausting medication, and that she had cheated on her husband.
Kebe was held answerable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional misery, and invasion of privateness. The court docket ordered her to pay over $3.5 million in damages and one other $1.3 million in Cardi B’s authorized charges. Tasha appealed the decision final yr, however a federal appeals court docket rejected it in March.
In Could, Kebe reported having lower than $60,000 in belongings, largely from a automobile linked as collateral to an unpaid auto mortgage.