Chance The Rapper’s former manager testified in a $3 million civil case over the Chicago rapper’s refusal to sign written business agreements with those around him.
A civil trial involving Pat Corcoran (aka Pat the Manager) and Chance The Rapper has begun in Cook County, Illinois. As a result of the termination agreement between them, Pat is seeking more than $3 million in damages from Chano.
However, it was revealed at the trial last week that there was no written management contract between Pat and Chance. According to Pat’s testimony, Qichengyun refused to sign any written business contracts with many of the professionals who worked for him.
During direct examination, Pat presented a list of allegedly unsigned contracts that Chance allegedly never formally signed with several key members of his circle, including the rapper’s music attorney, his business manager, booking agents and other professionals. When Pat was asked why Chance avoided signing the deal, he felt the rapper was avoiding responsibility.
“Given the experience that I’m going through right now, maybe it could be a way to obfuscate some of his commitments to his partners and people,” he testified, according to Music Business Worldwide.
Chance testified that he and Pat had no written agreement and that from 2012 until Pat was fired in 2019, Pat received 15% of Chance’s net income. He also added that Pat is definitely the highest paid person on the payroll of his company, Chance the Rapper LLC.
Chance also testified that he was never aware of a sunset clause in their arrangement, whereby Pat would be paid for three years after being fired.
“We never described it as a contract until he sued me,” he testified, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “We had a casual agreement but didn’t address the termination agreement.” “We just moved on for good. We never discussed the sunset clause, we just discussed how I was going to pay him,” Chance added.
The trial is expected to resume this week.
