Hip hop artist A$AP Relli has hired the co-head of Johnny Depp's legal team during his high-profile case against Amber Heard to join the better-known lawyer Camille Vasquez in the plaintiff's defamation suit against rapper A$AP Rocky.
Relli, whose real name is Terell Ephron, is suing the rapper and his criminal case defense lawyer, Joe Tacopina, in Los Angeles Superior Court. Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, pleaded not guilty in August 2022 in his ongoing criminal case in which the 35-year-old allegedly shot and injured Relli during an altercation in downtown Hollywood in November 2021.
Relli is a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob. Tacopina is a personal attorney for former President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Judge Randolph M. Hammock approved Brown Rudnick LLP attorney Benjamin G. Chew's request to join Relli's legal team, which has included Vasquez since the case was filed Sept. 11. Vasquez is based in Irvine and Chew in Washington, D.C., which required him to get a judge's permission to appear in court in a California case.
Although Vasquez became better known to viewers of the Depp-Heard defamation case because of her relentless cross-examination of Heard, Chew was Depp's co-lead counsel along with Vasquez. Chew also successfully represented Cher in several cases, including two relating to the Academy Award-nominated "Edith & Eddie."
Relli claims that Tacopina launched a damaging media campaign that portrayed him as a liar, money-grabber and extortionist, allegedly at the direction of Rocky, causing the plaintiff to receive death threats.
Relli also is suing Rocky in a separate suit for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. In response to Relli's first suit, Rocky and Tacopina "commenced a press campaign to impugn and malign (Relli), painting him in the press as a liar, a money grabber and a blackmailer," the suit alleges.
Among other things, Tacopina allegedly said during a media interview that Rocky "is the victim of a failed shakedown and fabricated shooting accusation orchestrated by his jealous former friend, A$AP Relli."
The statement and other remarks were false, malicious and have caused Reilli severe reputational, emotional and financial harm that must be addressed, the suit states.
Rocky and Tacopina, a lawyer who knows the statements were false, have not corrected or retracted any of them, the suit alleges.
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