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Rapper Fat Joe Sued by Prison-Bound Insta-Famous Sneaker Partner

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on August 29, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

They say you should follow your dreams, keep your eyes on the prize, and never let trivial roadblocks get in the way on your path to glory. And so it is that Scott Spina, "Insta-famous sneaker outfitter," has filed a federal complaint against Joseph "Fat Joe" Cartagena, claiming the rapper froze him out of their shared All the Way Up luxury sneaker company, despite Spina being sentenced to nearly three years in prison for stealing credit card info from the company's customers.

Why let a little jail time (and a poorly written lawsuit) get in the way of almost half a million dollars?

Managing the Store's Social Medical [Sic] Profile

In a typo-riddled complaint filed in federal court in New York, Spina claims he and Fat Joe partnered to for All the Way Up in 2016. Although Spina had little in the way of cash, he did have a budding sneaker business Scotty Kicks and about 60,000 Instagram followers, including professional athletes and other celebrities. Spina says he put all the work into opening the store from finding the location and building the store to investing "all up from [sic] capital, approximately $480,000.00, necessary to get the business up and running."

And up and run it did. Spina claims the shop generated $175,000 in sales on its first day alone. Since then, the lawsuit alleges the business raked in $468,467.39 in sales, turning $285,662.38 in profit. But none of that money found its way to Spina, who found himself "unlawfully ejected from the store premises" and banned, just 20 days after UP NYC opened. Spina also claims Cartagena hired managers and other employees without consulting him, and "surreptitiously" opened a separate bank account "in order to divert the store's proceeds and profits."

Sale [Sic] Taxes Owed Tot [Sic] eh [Sic] City of New York

Not included in Spina's 26-page lawsuit is any mention that he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to almost three years in federal prison on wire fraud charges, after he was accused of attempting to obtain over than $750,000 in money or goods from his clientele, fraudulently using his customers' credit card information and making false claims of unauthorized charges on his own accounts.

But hey, follow your dreams, young man, keep an eye on your misspelled prize, and never let trivial federal incarceration get in the way on your path to glory.

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