Earlier this week, we reported that former G.O.O.D. Music affiliate, Malik Yusef, was caught in the middle of an alleged forgery scam involving Kanye West and fashion designer, Phillip Plein.
According to Plein, Yusef allegedly misrepresented himself as Kanye West’s rep and began negotiating for Kanye West to perform at Plein’s New York Fashion Week presentation on Monday (Feb. 11). The deal Plein and Yusef agreed on was reportedly worth seven figures.
Allegedly after the two came to an agreement, Yuself forged West’s name on the contract and had a $900,000 advance wired to a bank account that was emptied immediately after. Now, Yusef is speaking out, claiming that he had no intentions on committing identity theft.
“Ain’t no forgery, dog,” he said to TMZ. “We have a foundation together. I ain’t never took nothing from Kanye, not even his name. Barely take his fucking advice.” Kanye himself hasn’t spoken about the situation as of yet, but Kim Kardashian-West confirmed that the performance wasn’t happening.
Yusef also told TMZ that he talked to West about the performance and he told Yusef to get the performance funded. Once Yusef realized West wasn’t going to follow through with the gig, Yusef claims he sent the money back. “This is customary for us to do shit like this,” he explained. Yusef also stated that he didn’t forge West’s signature, but instead used a stamp, his signature also appears on the contract. “This has been in the works, this started last February.” Meanwhile, a rep for West has told TMZ, “Malik Yusef is certainly in no position to negotiate a deal, receive money, or forge Kanye’s signature or sign any contracts on his behalf.”
Criminal charges have not been filed yet, but Plein is expected to take some sort of legal action against Yusef.