Ex-Jay-Z partner and Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash — who has long struggled financially — is $25.3 million in debt and has filed for bankruptcy, court records show.
The 54-year-old fallen music producer has only a measly $4,350 to his name, according to the Chapter 7 bankruptcy documents.
Dash owes nearly $19.8 million in debts to the government and $648,000 in domestic support, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to his ex-wife Rachel Roy – with whom he shared daughters Ava, 25, and Tallulah, 17.
He also owes Cindy Morales, the mother of his son Lucky, 21, and Linda Williams, mom to his son Boogie, 33, the records filed Thursday in Florida revealed.
The court documents put the washed-up rap mogul’s monthly income at $0, and said he does not own any homes, cars, household appliances or electronics, besides a $500 cell phone.
His only other personal assets included two guns valued at $750; $500 worth of clothes and jewelry valued at $2,500; plus $100 cash.
Dash – who co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with famed Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke in 1994 – said he was owed a “possible” but “unknown” amount from Burke in the court docs.
Dash and Jay-Z reportedly had a falling out over finances in the years since making hits such as “Hard Knock Life” and “99 Problems” in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Dash posted a video to Instagram Sept. 4, the same day he filed for bankrutpcy, talking about his health struggles and spending time with a 4-year-old son he shares with fiancée Raquel Horn, according to People.com.
He’s opened up about his financial woes on social media previously, the outlet reported, citing an August 2024 video in which he said he was “curious to see how it all rolls out.”
“Somebody asked me how I got so broke. Investing in my dreams. When you’re investing in your dreams and you dream big, you’re always gonna be broke,” he reportedly said in the clip.
The new court filings come just a few months after the fallen music producer was told by a Manhattan federal court judge to either pay the $1 million he owes creditors or wind up behind bars.
The fallen music producer allegedly sought to evade paying out a pair of judgements handed down in the Big Apple by hiding money, destroying evidence and refusing to comply with court orders.
Dash allegedly attempted to dodge paying a nearly $900,000 in one lawsuit – a defamation claim brought by filmmaker Josh Webber – by slow-walking demands to reveal his assets since a jury found him guilty back in 2022.
“If Defendants fail to comply, the Court will find Defendants in contempt and may issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Dash,” the judge in that case wrote in an April ruling.
Another Manhattan federal judge ruled that Dash had destroyed financial evidence that was “highly relevant to current and future litigation” in a separate lawsuit case brought against him by jilted author Edwyna Brooks, who claimed Dash fraudulently hid funds to dodge paying her a nearly $100,000 judgement in an earlier case.
In November, New York State bought up Dash’s one-third share in Rock-A-Fella Records at an auction for $1 million, in an effort to collect the $8.7 million he owes in back taxes.
A lawyer and representative for Dash did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
