Fat Joe claimed Tuesday that his longtime accounting firm BDO ripped him off millions of dollars.
Fat Joe claimed BDO was involved in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded him, and that they pulled the same stunt with a number of baseball players, big name artists and prominent celebrities, as well. The lawsuit names Fat Joe’s CPA Andrew N. Chammas and his assistant Vanessa Rodriguez of pulling cash out of ATM’s and using his credit card for their personal use, according to TMZ.
“They robbing us in every corner,” Fat Joe said during an interview on “The Breakfast Club.”
“I’m no rat, you know what I’m saying but Principle is principle, you cannot still millions of dollars from me and think we’re not coming,” he said.
WATCH:
The famous artist called this experience “embarrassing,” and alleged that the accountant he trusted, and with whom he had a personal relationship, used his money to fund her children’s school tuition.
“Like this is not a game, like these people really stealing my money. Taking fake credit cards under my wife’s name, going to the ATM every day pulling out cash…” Fat Joe said.
Fat Joe claimed he became aware something was seriously wrong with his finances when his mortgage company called to inquire about why he had missed so many payments. He was immediately alerted that his finances were in disarray and uncovered the scheme.
“The BDO the accountant’s we’re talking about, they everybody’s accountant, so it ain’t just me it’s like you know they, they everybody’s accountants. They’re the biggest accountants,” Fat Joe claimed, alerting his colleagues to check their books. “The saddest thing is when you turn around and you trust these people and it’s like yo these people stealing from me. Ponzi scheme.” (RELATED: Shakira Calls Tax Fraud Allegations A ‘Salacious Press Campaign’)
“So what happens is, us as creatives, you know we spent so much time. We doing books, we doing TV shows, we’re doing shows we do running businesses we try and take our creativity to another level,” he said.
Fat Joe called this “a wake up call,” and had advice for all artists, big and small.
“Don’t trust the business manager, don’t trust the accountants,” Fat Joe said. “Since I caught this, I’ve been signing my own checks confirming my own wires, doing everything.”