Ginuwine Headed to Bankruptcy, Owes People, IRS Tons of Money
Ginuwine was one of the biggest R&B stars of the 1990s, but now he's reportedly broke. The 'Pony' singer's attorney made this startling revelation during a pretrial hearing in New York.
According to New York Daily News, Ginuwine (real name Elgin Baylor Lumpkin) is being sued by Robert Reives who executive produced his 1996 debut album, 'The Bachelor.' The producer claims that Ginuwine owes him royalties from a $1.25 million five-album deal he signed with Sony.
The singer's lawyer, Bruce Beckner, says that his client is nearly in debt and is very close to filing for bankruptcy.
"He owes my firm a ton of money and a bunch of other people a ton of money," he said in court filings. "He owes Uncle Sam 300-odd thousand dollars in back income taxes.”
According to Beckner, Ginuwine blames some of his financial woes to his recent divorce from his wife, former rapper Solé. The couple have two daughters together.
As for the lawsuit, the 'So Anxious' singer contends that Reives' claim falls outside of the statute of limitations and that he isn't owed anything.
Reives' lawyer, Mike Meier, disagrees and doesn't believe that Ginuwine is broke.
"Despite the repeated representations before the court of defendant’s counsel that defendant has lost his large fortune...defendant has spared no expense in this proceeding to try every angle and every new legal theory his lawyers could come up with,” Meier wrote in his court documents.
The two parties will now have to battle it out in Manhattan Federal Court today (Nov. 10).
Ginuwine, whose net worth is estimated to be $11 million according to Celebrity Net Worth, feels that Reives is being a nuisance with his lawsuit.
"I felt like ... this would hinder my career from furthering if I continued to deal with this," he said.
Early this morning, Genuine went on Twitter and tweeted out a prayer for strength, wisdom, peace and understanding.