Mathew Knowles, the father of Beyonce and Solange Knowles, has filed a defamation countersuit alleging a law firm spread lies about him auctioning off Beyonce’s personal belongings and memorabilia.
Knowles, 66, is accusing his former lawyers, Lang Ferrer PLLC, of running up his lawyer’s fees and spreading lies that he sold Beyonce’s things at auction.
The law firm sued Knowles last year, accusing him of refusing to pay them $50,000 for work they performed, according to The Blast.
The lawsuit alleges Knowles held a silent auction to sell off Beyonce’s belongings during the 2017 Super Bowl weekend.
They claim he hid the proceeds from the auction to avoid paying off debt he owed to creditors, including their law firm.
Knowles has denied the allegations and he countersued the law firm for defamation.
Knowles confirms he did hold a silent auction to sell off athletic gear and sports items. He claimed the law firm repeatedly circulated damaging stories about him being broke and selling Beyonce’s stuff.
In his countersuit he accused the law firm of threatening to make things “ugly for him” if he did not pay what Knowles called “excessive and unreasonable” legal invoices, The Blast reports.
Knowles alleges the damaging stories ruined his business dealings with people who said they could not work with him because he auctioned off Beyonce’s memorabilia.
via The Blast — The lost deals included one with Port Royal Resort worth $175 million. In addition, Knowles claims Texas Southern University cited the auction as one of the reasons why he could not be conferred a tenured professorship. He also claims he lost out on a deal to license a music catalog of more than 3,000 songs.
Knowles is demanding his lawsuit continue on and is asking the court not to dismiss the counter-suit.
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