The wind didn't blow in the favour of Island Def Jam boss Lyor Cohen in the New York federal court yesterday – he was found liable for fraud, willful copyright infringement and wrongful interference with a contract after a lawsuit was filed against his company by TVT Records. The legal wranglings all center on Cash Money Click (CMC), the hip hop combo made up of Ja Rule, 0-1 and Chris Black. They signed to TVT back in the mid-nineties and released a couple of singles. But then Black went to prison and the project was put on hold. During this time TVT released Ja Rule from his contract so he could sign to Def Jam owned label Murder Inc, run by Irv Gotti.
Once Black was out of prison the three members of CMC, including Ja Rule, wanted to work together again, so TVT brokered a deal with Gotti whichallowed Rule to work on one CMC album to be released by TVT. Work began on the album but TVT alleges that Cohen conspired to halt the LP'sproduction. And yesterday the courts agreed with them. Commenting on the court's decision TVT’s legal spokesman told reporters: "The verdict against Mr. Cohen, personally, for fraud shows that there are some very serious problems confronting Def Jam and [parent company] Universal Music Group."The jury hearing the lawsuit will reconvene on 28 Apr to decide on what compensation to award TVT.