Usher sues investors to recover $700,000 he lent to buy property for ‘Homage ATL’

Advertisement

Advertise with us

ATLANTA (AP) — The music artist and entertainment executive Usher is suing a group of investors who have been trying to open a new restaurant and lounge in Atlanta.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$0 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Monthly Digital Subscription

$4.75/week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

No thanks

*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.

ATLANTA (AP) — The music artist and entertainment executive Usher is suing a group of investors who have been trying to open a new restaurant and lounge in Atlanta.

Usher Raymond IV lent $1.7 million to the investor group toward the purchase of property for the planned Homage ATL, his lawyers said in a lawsuit filed recently in Atlanta.

In late 2024, three men approached Usher with their plan to open the restaurant and lounge, which involved the purchase of a commercial property in the city’s Buckhead neighborhood, the lawsuit states. Usher declined to become an investor in Homage ATL, but he agreed to loan the group $1.7 million toward purchasing the property.

FILE - Usher arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 10, 2024, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Usher arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 10, 2024, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

The money had been sent to the trust account of Atlanta lawyer Alcide Honoré, who represented some of the investors and is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. After the deal never materialized, Usher requested that his money be returned. He was repaid $1 million in August, but communication then broke down and he has been unable to collect the remaining $700,000, the lawsuit states.

Honoré on Wednesday referred questions to his attorney, Clifford Hardwick IV.

“I have no substantive comment regarding a matter that is in litigation,” Hardwick said in an email to The Associated Press. “However, I am extremely confident that Mr. Honoré will be vindicated as to any civil liability in this case.”

One of the defendants named in the lawsuit, record producer and songwriter Bryan-Michael Cox, said on Instagram that he is “a passive minority shareholder” in one of the companies involved. “While I’m unable to share more details right now, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: my 27-year friendship with Usher remains fully intact.”

Two other men in the investment group, both from metro Atlanta, are also named as defendants. No lawyers for them were listed in the court records at this early stage of the lawsuit.

Report Error Submit a Tip