AEG Resumes Young Thug Lawsuit, Seeks Catalog Sale Info

Following the end of Young Thug's marathon criminal case – and his time behind bars – AEG Presents has formally moved to resume its year-old lawsuit against him.

Anschutz Entertainment Group's live division just recently asked Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani (to whom the case was transferred in February) to sign off on a fresh set of proposed pretrial deadlines.

For a bit of quick background, the promoter first slapped Young Thug (real name Jeffery Lamar Williams Jr.) with the complaint towards 2020's end. In short, this original action accused the defendant artist of failing to honor the terms of exclusive-performance agreements dating back to 2016.

Those agreements allegedly saw the plaintiff forward Young Thug (via his YSL Touring) advance compensation – including a cool $5.25 million in 2017 for “the exclusive right to promote [Young Thug] concert performances…throughout the world for a stated term.”

But Young Thug and YSL “immediately failed and refused to honor their respective obligations…by, among other things, disregarding AEG's rights, performing concerts without AEG's involvement, and retaining all proceeds generated therefrom,” according to the original complaint.

Unsurprisingly, that alleged move didn't sit right with AEG – nor did Young Thug's alleged failure to pay back the $5.25 million advance (and more) plus interest.

We also covered the courtroom confrontation's postponements against the backdrop of the now-resolved (save 15 years' probation and a requirement that the Georgia native Young Thug relocate from his home state) criminal matter.

Assuming Young Thug “does not violate the terms of his probation,” AEG (along with counsel for Young Thug) summed up in the proposed motion to get pretrial dates on the books, “his criminal proceedings should no longer affect the parties' ability to complete discovery and motion practice, or to bring the case to trial, after the three-month period identified above.”

Said three-month period refers to the time it's expected to take the rapper “to move.” [out of Georgia]to become reacclimated to life outside of prison, and to re-establish his relationship with his counsel and outside advisors,” per the document.

Running with the points, the proposal is specifically seeking for 2025 a February 6th status conference, a June 12th discovery cutoff, and a September 18th final pretrial conference, to name a few.

Of course, even if the suggested timetable plays out as desired, the case (assuming it isn't settled) wouldn't head to trial until 2025's final quarter at the earliest. Closer to the present, however, AEG has not been sitting idly by during the litigation's pause.

On the contrary, the filing company “would like to postpone” depositions until it receives responses to document-production subpoenas served “on various third parties who represent or have had dealings with” Young Thug and YSL.

These subpoenas pertain to Young Thug's music IP (which the rapper allegedly put up as collateral to secure the relevant advance), and early follow-ups, provided between June and September 2024, allegedly revealed that Young Thug and others had transferred the catalog “to third parties” after AEG sued.

All told, Young Thug allegedly received $16 million for the rights to around 400 compositions in connection with this purported sale/transfer, according to AEG. Now, the latter is looking to confirm and take legal action against the entity or entities claiming to own the appropriate rights.

“In an effort to identify the current owners of the copyrights,” the joint status report reads, “AEG has performed extensive research through publicly available databases, and it has served” the aforementioned subpoenas with a late-November response deadline.

With the benefit of replies, “AEG will determine whether to proceed against some or all of the collateral in this action as against” Young Thug, add more defendants to the suit, or “take steps outside this lawsuit with regard to such collateral,” per the legal text.

In other words, despite the far-off possible trial, the legal battle's decidedly interesting next steps should unfold sooner rather than later.