Videos by According2HipHop
Usher has filed a major lawsuit in Fulton County against several longtime associates—including hit producer Bryan-Michael Cox, industry figures Keith Thomas and Charles Hughes, and entertainment attorney Alcide Honoré—over an unpaid loan tied to a proposed restaurant and lounge venture in Buckhead, Atlanta.
According to court documents, the group approached Usher last year with a plan to open Homage ATL at 3102 Piedmont Road, the former Ocean Prime location. While Usher made it clear he did not want to be an equity investor, he agreed to provide a $1.7 million loan, which he wired to a trust account in January.
But by summer, the property still had not been purchased. Usher then asked for the loan to be repaid. He received $1 million in August—leaving $700,000 unpaid.
The lawsuit alleges that attorney Alcide Honoré later admitted that repaying the remaining balance “was not that easy” because the money had already been used for “other purposes,” a violation of the loan agreement.
Usher is now seeking $4.9 million in damages, amounting to $700,000 for each of the seven claims listed in the complaint.
The case marks a dramatic fallout between Usher and some of his closest collaborators, including Cox, with whom he created some of the biggest R&B records of the 2000s. The lawsuit is ongoing.
