Pras acusado de fraude en relación con el acuerdo de derechos de Harborview

 Open On Sunday LLP, a corporation based in the United States, has filed a lawsuit against Pras and investment firm Harbourview over a rights transaction made in July. According to Open On Sunday, the Fugees member's sale of his rights to Harbourview was collateral for a loan the company had with him. 

Artists and composers are able to get access to early capital through Open On Sunday by selling their copyrights or royalty rights to the company and then buying them back at a later date. Meanwhile, Harbourview is an equity fund sponsored by Apollo Global Management that has been actively purchasing music rights in multimillion dollar agreements. 

According to the lawsuit filed by Open On Sunday, the two parties reached an agreement in January that included a loan arrangement collateralized by royalties that Pras collects from Sony Music for the Fugees' output and his 1998 solo record. 

It claims that back in February, Pras requested that the agreement be changed so that the loan would be collateralized by a book deal for an autobiography instead of the music earnings. However, Open on Sunday didn't want to change the terms of the contract in that way. 

A criminal investigation into the singer's ties to a Malaysian businessman named Jho Low and the so-called 1MDB crisis has reportedly prompted the musician to request a further $3 million loan in order to pay for his defense counsel. 

At the same time, according to Open On Sunday, Pras stopped paying back his loan. Since his Sony royalties were pledged as collateral for the loan, the bank started foreclosure procedures on them in May. 

Later, Open On Sunday learned that Pras had struck an agreement with HarbourView. Also, "after filing the notice of default, plaintiff discovered that defendant [Pras] fraudulently transferred the assets to defendant Harbourview," as stated in the case. 

The lawsuit continues to assert that Pras and his legal team forged a release document showing that Open On Sunday had agreed to accept the hypothetical book deal as security on the loan, when in fact it had not. This is all in an effort to "induce" Harborview to acquire the Sony royalty rights. 

Also, Harbourview, according to Open on Sunday's analysis, should have done more research. The investment fund is accused of being "willfully blind" and of "eagerly accepting the release that they knew or should have known was fake." 

Pras and his legal team are being charged of fraud and violation of contract. 

Pras's lawyers, however, reject Open On Sunday's account and maintain that an arrangement to collateralize the money with a future book deal was actually signed. Robert S. Maloni, an attorney, commented to Law360, "There was no falsification." It's all made up; the allegation is false.