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Accounting agency BDO misplaced movie star purchasers led by the rapper Jay-Z following accusations {that a} employees member had been stealing cash from buyer accounts.
Individuals accustomed to the matter mentioned Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion had been among the many stars to have severed relationships with BDO’s Miami operations, which manages private and enterprise funds starting from paying payments to submitting taxes on behalf of the wealthy and well-known.
Jay-Z’s departure stemmed from anger over how BDO handled accusations in 2022 {that a} employees member had stolen from the rapper Joseph Cartagena — who goes by the skilled title Fats Joe — and that companions had failed to identify inconsistencies in his monetary affairs, the folks mentioned.
The worker, Vanessa Rodriguez, used bank cards and financial institution accounts belonging to Fats Joe, his spouse and his companies to take out hundreds of {dollars} of money and pay faculty charges, in response to a lawsuit the rapper filed in opposition to the agency, Rodriguez and the associate overseeing the account in September 2022.
Fats Joe claimed BDO’s administration of his affairs was so chaotic that his mortgage funds had been usually late, it was not possible to reconcile completely different accounts, and it appeared his bank card payments had been generally paid from accounts belonging to different movie star purchasers, together with Main League Baseball gamers.
Final month, Rodriguez, the previous employees member on the centre of these allegations, was indicted in Miami on 4 counts of fraud, accused of spending on bank cards that didn’t belong to her. Extra particulars of the fees, and the names of two alleged victims, have been stored underneath seal. Rodriguez has not entered a proper plea, however she informed the Monetary Occasions she deliberate to plead not responsible and that accusations made in opposition to her within the 2022 lawsuit had been additionally unfaithful. Rodriguez declined to remark additional.
BDO mentioned in a authorized submitting that it denied the allegations in Fats Joe’s lawsuit, which was settled on undisclosed phrases earlier this yr. The considerations detailed within the go well with have had wider repercussions contained in the accounting agency, nevertheless. The departure of a number of high-profile purchasers has solid a pall over BDO’s January 2021 acquisition of Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, which was the most important accounting agency in Florida and had signed Fats Joe, Jay-Z and others as purchasers a few decade in the past.
Employees working for Jay-Z, whose actual title is Shawn Carter, had been angered by how BDO responded to the accusations of theft from Fats Joe, who’s a shopper of Jay-Z’s leisure firm Roc Nation. They felt the accounting agency turned overly defensive and didn’t rapidly present Fats Joe with full entry to his monetary affairs, mentioned folks accustomed to the matter and his 2022 lawsuit.
That anger led to Jay-Z’s departure as a BDO shopper in 2023, the folks mentioned, inside months of Fats Joe leaving.
In the meantime, earlier considerations about Rodriguez additionally contributed to a different Roc Nation star, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, splitting from BDO, the folks mentioned. She left as a shopper in 2022. Spokespeople for Jay-Z and the opposite stars declined to remark.
BDO mentioned the agency “doesn’t touch upon pending litigation or issues associated to present or former purchasers”.
Extra reporting by Sara Germano
