Kanye West now owes over $1m in unpaid taxes as his attorney quits & lawsuits mount with main money-maker
KANYE West is adding yet more unpaid taxes to the piles of money he owes the authorities – as his finances become ever more chaotic.
His firms, including Yeezy, now owe a total of $1,064,221, as he’s yet to cough up on ten tax liens and property taxes.
It was previously reported back in January that the star owed more than $1 million, and that number continues to grow, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.
Two more bills have been added, linked to his $14 million Monster Lake Ranch in Cody, Wyoming, which he recently sold for an undisclosed sum after three years on the market.
According to Park County records, his firm Psalm Cody Ranch LLC owes $2,780.33 and $2966.66 in property taxes, both of which were due in May.
This adds to four outstanding Yeezy Apparel tax liens totaling $934,033.
Donda Services also has a tax lien for $10,924 and Yeezy Construction for $12,425, while two of his Los Angeles properties have liens totaling $101,093.
It all adds to the confusion around how much of Kanye’s fortune is left, as the former billionaire has been rattling through his millions since splitting from Kim Kardashian, and his behavior has become wildly unpredictable.
Two years ago, Forbes revealed his net worth had dropped to $400 million.
The outlet claimed at the time his fortune was made up of real estate, cash, his music catalog, and a 5 per stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm, Skims.
YEEZY STOPS ORDERS
Yeezy allegedly raked in $70 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2024 – with $19million raised on the first day in February this year after Kanye’s Yeezy Super Bowl advert, according to the star on social media and posts from his team.
However, the Yeezy site is now winding down, and the business has halted further orders, currently fulfilling just under 6,000, albeit very slowly.
The closing of Yeezy is likely to be temporary, but will still cost Ye millions.
And his team seems to be in disarray, according to reports.
Previously, he was hiring designers and creatives from Los Angeles on full-time contracts.
But, in the last couple of years, much of the hiring has been done on a freelance basis – where he’s been taking workers from Adidas or, in many cases, from the fashion apparel firm Mowalola, based in London.
Brit Mowalola Ogunlesi was Yeezy Gap’s Design Director before going it alone with her firm – but was still designing some of his wife Bianca Censori’s controversial see-through creations.
Mowalola admitted last year that she didn’t know how to find the money to showcase her next range in London until Ye stepped in with the funding last year.
She told Dazed Digital, “We had no support to do the show at all then at the last minute, [Ye] came and he was like, ‘[I’m] gonna pay for everything.'”
Since April 2022, at least six of the Mowalola team are now working freelance for Kanye – as well as keeping their job with Mowalola, The U.S. Sun can reveal.
Kanye West's recent controversies
Kanye West has faced a number of controversies in recent years.
In November 2022, a former Yeezy staffer alleged in a lawsuit Kanye showed them intimate photos of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
Staffers also claimed he played pornography for them during meetings and talked about porn.
The star, who has been sued by multiple former employees, has denied all of the claims.
In October 2023, Adidas dropped the rapper as various social media sites barred him from their platforms for making anti-semitic comments online, in interviews, and with his clothing.
Amid pleas from fans and threats of major boycotts, Adidas announced its decision to terminate his contract.
Gap and Balenciaga followed suit.
Kanye has said in the past that he suffers from a porn addiction, making the comments in an online rant that has since been deleted.
Others have been plucked on a contract from Adidas, which dropped the star after his anti-semitic comments, which he claimed cost him $2 billion in a day.
That means a chunk of Ye’s staff are now based remotely in London.
He’s also leaned more heavily on fashion students, bringing in interns, or people with relatively no experience and advertising on Craigslist and social media.
His wife Bianca was studying for her Master’s Degree in architecture at Melbourne University and had only internships to her name – until she was made Head of Architecture at Yeezy in November 2020.
It adds to the seemingly chaotic nature of the rapper’s life, as he’s also facing a never-ending stream of lawsuits for either not paying people or allegedly harassing employees.
The U.S. Sun reported last year that Kanye “doesn’t give a crap” about the lawsuits – and it still appears as though that is the case.
He’s just been dumped by his lawyer Brian Brumfield as court docs reveal that he “will not speak to counsel and [Ye] refuses to pay counsel as well.”
Brumfield quit as attorney in two suits, court documents show.
One legal insider who’s had dealings with Ye thinks it’s not about money, but control.
“Dealing with him in a lawsuit is impossible, there’s no compromise or reasonable behavior from him or his attorneys, who get barely any direction from him, so just keep the suit rolling – and keep billing him,” says the source.
“After dealing with his team for years, they like to retain unpredictable control, money seems not to be the ultimate priority, but making the other side sweat.
“It’s sticking the middle finger up to the courts and showing that this lawsuit means absolutely nothing to Kanye. It makes any legal action protracted and difficult.”