Chance the Rapper is celebrating a legal victory after winning his breach-of-fiduciary-duty case against his former manager, Patrick “Pat” Corcoran.
On Wednesday (October 14), Cook County Circuit Court Judge James E. Hanlon Jr. found that Corcoran had breached his fiduciary duties to the Chicago rapper on several occasions. The judge ordered him to forfeit up to $1.5 million in management fees and merchandise-related payments he received from Chance.
A press release states that the judge found Corcoran had improperly collected kickbacks from merchandise vendors working with Chance while simultaneously receiving management fees from the rapper.
Corcoran has been ordered to repay the commissions he received from merchandise vendors and surrender the 15% management fee he earned from Chance’s merchandise business during the period covered by the ruling.
Chance’s former manager and his company, Pat the Manager, LLC, must also transfer the ChanceRaps.com domain to the rapper within 14 days.
“I’m grateful to finally close this chapter of my life and can’t wait to eventually tell my side of the story,” Chance said in a statement following the decision. “I’m thankful to the courts and, more importantly, to God for remaining faithful.”
Chance also took to Instagram to post a screenshot of a BallerAlert article covering the ruling. He captioned the post “SOUND ON” and featured Common’s song “Testify” as the soundtrack.
The ruling follows nearly six years of legal disputes between Chance the Rapper and his former manager. Chance initially sued Corcoran, accusing him of breaching his duties of loyalty and transparency.
Earlier this year, a jury ruled in Chance’s favor, dismissing Corcoran’s $3 million lawsuit and finding him in breach of contract. Corcoran faced several allegations, including allegedly seeking an ownership stake in UnitedMasters when a deal was presented to Chance, registering ChanceRaps.com under his own name, and pursuing the Ramova and We Are the Times deals, which were initially intended solely for Chance.
