Fat Joe’s former hypeman Terrance “T.A.” Dixon has filed an explosive lawsuit in federal court against the rapper on Thursday. Dixon is alleging that his former boss, whose real name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena, engaged in “coercive labor exploitation, financial fraud, sexual manipulation, violent intimidation, and psychological coercion.” Dixon adds that the hip-hop star behind such chart-toppers as “What’s Luv?” got rich and famous while he and his associates deliberately suppressed, silenced and erased Dixon’s substantial creative, artistic, and commercial contributions, which were foundational to Fat Joe’s professional success and personal brand. He is seeking up to $20 million in damages.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, contains so many disturbing claims about Fat Joe’s alleged sexual relations with women — including minors — that it contains a trigger warning on the first page of the 157-page document.
For 16 years, Dixon served as Fat Joe’s so-called hypeman, a common figure in hip-hop who supports the artist by energizing the crowd and enhancing the overall performance. He also contributed as a lyricist and background vocalist on such hits as “Congratulations,” “Ice Cream,” and “Money Over Bitches.” According to the complaint, he had an unrivaled vantage point to observe the rapper’s off-stage lifestyle and behavior.
Dixon is represented by Tyrone Blackburn, who is also the lead counsel in a high-profile case against Sean “Diddy” Combs. In February 2024, Blackburn filed a lawsuit on behalf of Diddy accuser Lil Rodney, alleging sexual assault, sexual harassment and failure to pay his underling. One month later, Department of Homeland Security agents conducted raids at Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
Dixon states in the complaint that Fat Joe forced him “into humiliating situations, including sex acts performed under duress and surveillance, accompanied by threats of abandonment in foreign countries if [he] refused compliance.” By his own estimation, Dixon states in the suit that “he was coerced into more than 4,000 sexual acts to maintain his standing within the Enterprise.”
Most shockingly, the suit claims that Dixon “personally witnessed [Fat Joe] engage in sexual relations with children who were fifteen and sixteen years old” and lists three such Jane Does including a 16-year-old Dominican girl in New York, who “in exchange for cash, clothing, and payment of her cell phone bill … would [perform] oral sex and other sexual acts” on the rapper. Minor Doe 2 is a Caucasian female and not a United States citizen. “[Fat Joe] began having sexual relations with Minor Doe 2 when she was 15 years old after a concert overseas. Defendant flew Minor Doe 2 to New York City and Miami, Florida, on multiple occasions. Due to Minor Doe 2’s body being adolescent and not fully formed, Defendant paid for her to get a Brazilian Butt Lift. Minor Doe 2 eventually left Defendant and is now married to a professional athlete,” the complaint says. Minor Doe 3 is a Latina female who “met the defendant when she was 15 years old, turning 16.”
According to Dixon, “Defendant was in love with Minor Doe 3. He even contemplated leaving his wife. The Defendant paid all Minor Doe 3’s bills and even took her overseas to his tour stops. He brought her to Florida and would put her up in a condo he rented a few blocks from his house with his wife,” the lawsuit states. “In a recorded conversation, Minor Doe 3 and her 15-year-old cousin describe in detail to Plaintiff how ‘inappropriate’ it was for Defendant, who was in his late 30s at the time, to be fawning over children.”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Defendants in the suit also include Pete “Pistol Pete” Torres and Richard “Rich Player” Jospitre, who the complaint refers to as key associates in Fat Joe’s “criminal enterprise,” asserting civil claims for violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (also known as Civil RICO as well as related violations under New York and Florida law including “unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, fraudulent concealment, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and money laundering.”
The suit additionally names Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, claiming that the company, which represents Fat Joe, knowingly participated in “concealing, transferring, and manipulating” Dixon’s authorship rights and royalty interests and sought to intimidate, harass and obstruct the hype man’s legitimate claims against Fat Joe, Torres and Jospitre.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants “engaged in deliberate tax fraud schemes” in an effort to conceal their extensive wage theft, artificially inflate Dixon’s tax liabilities, expose him to unwarranted tax audits and penalties and systematically obscure the exploited labor. The complaint cites a whistleblower accountant who came forward last year as well as recorded phone calls that helped paint the picture of the alleged misdeeds.
The move comes after Fat Joe sued Dixon in April for slandering him on social media by claiming that the Bronx-born rapper who enjoys high level political connections flew a 16-year-old girl across state lines for sex. That suit also named Dixon’s lawyer Tyrone Blackburn, claiming the pair tried to shake him down for a settlement.
“This is the right way to fight Joe — through the system. You can’t fight him no other way,” Dixon tells Variety in an exclusive interview. “Joe think he’s a god. Joe thinks he’s untouchable.”
Dixon’s suit against Fat Joe goes much further than his social media posts and states that he endured “a wide spectrum of sexual coercion, psychological control, forced exhibitionism, and surveillance-based humiliation, including being compelled to perform sex acts under observation, being filmed, or directed by [Fat Joe] in the presence of others — tactics designed to control Plaintiff’s body, erode his autonomy, and ensure silence.” It adds: “These sex-based abuses were not private, incidental, or isolated. They were integral to the enterprise’s culture of dominance and humiliation, enforced by Defendant’s associates such as Pistol Pete, JB, and others, and sustained across numerous tour locations including Miami, North Carolina, Germany, Spain, and Wisconsin.”
Fat Joe is represented by celebrity criminal attorney Joe Tacopina, who has defended everyone from A$AP Rocky and Donald Trump in high-profile cases. Variety has reached out to Tacopina for comment.
In Thursday’s complaint, Dixon claims that the activity took place on Market America’s corporate yacht and at its mansion properties, where Fat Joe “orchestrated repeated orgies involving Plaintiff, female dancers and minors. Defendant used.” The lawsuit adds that Fat Joe used his status as a hip-hop star to compel Dixon and others into “degrading sexual performances,” often while Fat Joe watched, recorded, or directed the encounters. “These incidents occurred under conditions that included the presence of corporate security staff, surveillance cameras, and Defendant’s management entourage, yet no intervention occurred, supporting the inference that these acts were facilitated by — and covered up by — the broader enterprise and its affiliates,” the complaint continues. “[Dixon] did not willingly consent to participate in these acts; instead, Plaintiff submitted solely out of fear of immediate retaliation, which Defendant repeatedly demonstrated would include financial punishment, professional sabotage, abandonment in foreign countries, or physical harm.”
The suit claims that Fat Joe also issued veiled death threats and witness intimidation via direct messages such as “You love your family, right?” “Fall back in 48 hours” and “We let you live.”
Though Fat Joe hobnobbed with some of the biggest names in politics, including then-Vice President Kamala Harris, there was at least one brush with scandal back in 2010. He and members of his entourage were detained and questioned after a University of Wisconsin student reported an alleged sexual assault following a performance at the city’s Orpheum Theater. At the time, Fat Joe’s attorney called the woman a “pretender groupie” who was attempting to “shake down” the rapper for money.
From Variety US