Chance The Rapper’s former manager testifies in his $3 million civil case that the Chicago rapper refused to sign written business agreements with people around him.
The civil trial involving Pat Corcoran (aka Pat the Manager) and Chance The Rapper has started in Cook County, Ill. Pat is seeking over $3 million from Chano, as a result of a post-termination agreement made between them.
However, it was revealed during trial last week that a written management contract doesn’t exist between Pat and Chance. According to Pat’s testimony, the Chi-City rhymer refused to sign any written business contracts with many of the professionals who worked for him.
During direct examination, Pat showed a list of purportedly unsigned contracts that Chance allegedly had never formalized with several key members in his circle, including the rapper’s music attorney, his business manager, booking agent and other professionals. When Pat was asked why Chance avoided signing agreements, he felt that the rapper was shirking his responsibilities.
“Given this experience that I’m going through right now, perhaps it could be a way to obfuscate some of his commitments to his partners and to people,” he testified, according to Music Business Worldwide.
For his part, Chance testified that he did not have a written agreement with Pat, who was paid 15% of Chance’s net proceeds from 2012 until he was terminated in 2019. He also added that Pat was definitely the most-paid person on the payroll of his company, Chance the Rapper LLC.
Chance also testified that he never knew a sunset clause existed in their arrangement, where Pat would get paid for three years after being fired.
“We never described it as a contract until he sued me. We had an at-will agreement that didn’t address termination,” he testified, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “We moved that way forever. We never discussed the sunset clause, we just discussed how I’d pay him,” Chance added.
The trial is expected to resume this week.
See FOX 32 Chicago’s Video: Latest on Chance The Rapper’s Legal Dispute with Ex-Manager
