Ray J. Photo courtesy of BET.
Summary: A man named Jean Paul is suing Ray J for allegedly stealing his scooter company idea.
Rapper Ray J is being sued for $30 million. An alleged former business associate said that he stole the idea for a scooter company, and Ray J has countered that the two never had a written agreement.
Plaintiff Jean Paul said that he had discussed launching an electric scooter business with Ray J in 2015. Paul wanted the reality star, who is Brandy Norwood’s brother, to be an investor and celebrity endorser.
However, Ray J, 36, allegedly zoomed away with the idea and started his own company called, Raycon, which produces the popular Scoot-E-Bikes that have been endorsed by other celebrities such as Sean Combs. In November, the company inked a $31 million deal with a consumer electronics company, and this success left Paul fuming.
Paul is represented by attorney Sarah Cabarcas-Osman from the Berman Law Group.
Ray J’s manager, David Weintraub, told TMZ that Raycon is 100% independently owned and that Ray J had never signed anything with Jean Paul. Weintraub added that this recent lawsuit is a frivolous shakedown.
In 2016, Ray J, real name William Ray Norwood, told Mashable that he got the idea for a scooter company when visiting Miami.
“Companies have been trying to promote this style of electric bikes for about two years now, and nobody was able to impact America,” Ray J said. “I first saw this kind of bike in Miami, and then we did our due diligence and started studying [similar] bikes in China. Then we took the bike across the country and started to talk to tastemakers just to see if someone was already ahead of the game. But no one had ever seen [this kind of] electric bike. So after seeing the way the bike made people feel, we immediately began building the company around this product.”
Ray J told the LA Sentinel that he was a “transportation specialist” and that Raycon does not only produce scooters but other technology.
“We’ll be producing high quality yet affordable smart watches, headphones and of course the electronic bikes; more than 30 new products that are innovative to the market,” Ray J said.
Ray J is a rapper who is currently starring in the reality show “Love and Hip Hop.” He is the brother of singer Brandy, and he famously dated Kim Kardashian and was the male costar to her 2007 porn tape which launched her career.
Ray J’s Scoot-E-Bikes are a big hit. Photo courtesy of TMZ.