On Wednesday, June 5, multifaceted artist, 50 Cent, and attorney Ben Crump visited Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to advocate for Black-owned liquor brands and their challenges in the competitive luxury spirits industry. 50 Cent took to Instagram to share his meeting with the Black Congressional Caucus amidst his ongoing legal battle with Suntory Global Spirits, previously known as Beam Suntory, concerning his Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi Brut Champagne products.
50 Cent wrote on Instagram – “I’m off to DC 🛫to talk to the Congressional Black Caucus about how @suntoryglobalspirits has damaged my business.”
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“I am pleased to join the legal team representing Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, as he is one of the most successful Black entrepreneurs in America, and even he is not immune to the biased treatment that minority business owners face every day,” Crump said in a statement. “He has been relentless in his fight to seek fairness and justice over the way he was treated by a corporate giant in the luxury spirits industry.”
In true 50 Cent style, last month he called out Beam Suntory on social media and first hinted at his trip to DC for changing its name before resolving the lawsuit he filed against them.
Back in March, 50 Cent sued the alcoholic beverage company, alleging an embezzlement scheme that reportedly cost him $6 million. In the lawsuit, he claimed his cognac and champagne supplier overcharged his company, Sire Spirits, for the products and then split the profits.
“Because these illicit commissions were baked into the price of the product, Sire Spirits overpaid on taxes, overpaid on customs and duties, and overpaid on insurance, all of which are marked towards the value of the product,” Sire Spirits attorney Craig Weiner explained. “Beam Suntory’s role here is extraordinarily troubling. Beam Suntory’s Chief Commercial Officer, Julious Grant, acting as an employee and officer of the company, under the authority of Beam Suntory, facilitated the entire fraud as outlined in our complaint.”
