Philadelphia law firm Blank Rome is suing rapper, actor and activist Mos Def for over $60,000 in unpaid legal bill stemming from a 2006 divorce.
Brooklyn-born Mos Def, whose real name is Dante Smith, split from Maria Yepes Smith after 10 years of marriage.
Blank Rome claims the actor, who portrayed Ford Prefect in the 2005 film of The HItchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, owes unpaid fees and retainers.
The 500-lawyer firm, which had gross revenues of $314.5 million in 2007, is one of the few Am Law 100 firms to have a dedicated matrimonial practice group. The firm has handled divorce proceedings for Donald Trump (twice), shock jock Howard Stern, TV “news” personality Geraldo Rivera, and stock broker Al Reynolds, the ex-husband of lawyer/TV host Star Jones.
The same year Mos Def divorced Yepes, the musician wed former Toronto stripper Alana Wyatt, whom he’d known for only three days. After those nuptials ended with Mos Def allegedly denying Wyatt a divorce, she wrote about her ill-fated marriage to Mos Def in a book published in April.
The rapper was also involved in an August incident in Las Vegas in which a photographer claimed Mos Def tore a camera off his neck, smashed it to the ground, and then took off with it during a confrontation.
An arrest warrant was issued for the artist by Las Vegas police in November. Police say they expect Mos Def, who faces charges of felony robbery and malicious destruction of private property, to turn himself in.
Via Am Law Daily.
