Cardi B awarded $1.25 million in federal libel lawsuit against Latasha K… after the rapper testified she was suicidal over blogger’s false claims that she worked as a prostitute
- A jury awarded Cardi B a victory on Monday in her lawsuit against Latasha K
- The 29-year-old rapper sued the blogger for calling her a prostitute
- Latasha K also alleged that Cardi contracted STIs while working as a prostitute
- She was ordered to pay the musician $1 million in general damages
- Latasha K will also have to pay $250K for medical expenses
- Cardi had claimed in court that the blogger’s claims left her feeling suicidal
Cardi B emerged victorious in her federal libel lawsuit against Latasha K on Monday.
The 29-year-old rapper was awarded $1 million in general damages by a jury in Georgia, along with an additional $250,000 that the 39-year-old blogger will be required to pay for medical expenses, TMZ reported on Monday.
She was sued by the hitmaker for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress after claiming in videos posted to her YouTube channel that Cardi had once worked as a prostitute and had suffered from drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.
Legal victory: Cardi B, 29, was awarded $1.25 million on Monday in her libel suit against blogger Latasha K, who falsely claimed she was a prostitute and drug addict; seen December 7, 2021 in Santa Monica
The trial took a just over a week before a jury found Latasha K (real name: Latasha Kebe) liable on three counts.
Cardi (given name: Belcalis Almánzar) sued the YouTuber back in 2019 for a ‘campaign of slander’ after she refused to take down the offending videos.
Among the false claims made were that the superstar rapper had contract herpes and that she regularly used cocaine while working as a prostitute.
‘None of the aforementioned statements about plaintiff are true,’ Cardi’s legal team replied in her lawsuit filing. ‘Plaintiff was never a prostitute or a user of cocaine. Plaintiff has never, and does not now, have herpes, nor has she had herpes outbreaks on her mouth.’
Shocking allegations: Latasha K was sued by Cardi in 2019 for YouTube videos falsely alleging that Cardi used cocaine and contracted herpes while working as a prostitute, all claims the rapper disputed in her lawsuit
Latasha K isn’t out of the woods, as the judge presiding over the trial said a hearing on Tuesday would determine what she might have to pay in punitive damages to the WAP rapper, as well as how much she would pay in attorneys fees.
A courtroom observer told Rolling Stone that Cardi was in the room to witness that verdict and appeared ‘elated’ after winning her case.
They added that she hugged her lawyers Lisa Fortune Moore and Sarah Matz, before pulling them into a ‘three-way hug.’
Cardi hasn’t yet comment on her legal victory, but afterward she posted a throwback photo to her Instagram Stories that appeared to show her with her late maternal grandmother.
‘My queen thank you for hearing my prayers,’ she began her caption. ‘Only you know those nights that I cried to you feeling hopeless and tired even when it seems like I have the world on my hands.’
Family: Cardi didn’t comment on the verdict but shared a photo that appeared to be of her maternal grandmother to Instagram later on Monday and thanked her for ‘hearing my prayers’
Payday: The jury awarded Cardi $1 million in general damages and $250K in medical fees, but a hearing to come on Tuesday could also see her getting additional punitive damages; seen in December in Miami Beach, Florida
Earlier this month, Cardi claimed ‘I wanted to commit suicide over the things’ in her emotional testimony in court.
‘I felt defeated and depressed and I didn’t want to sleep with my husband,’ she said of a period shortly after she and the Migos rapper Offset welcomed their daughter Kulture.
During direct examination by her legal team, she also admitted that she felt as if she ‘didn’t deserve my kid.’
The rapper also blasted Latasha K from the witness stand, saying ‘I felt like only a demon could do that s**t,’ according to TMZ.
The blogger followed Cardi’s 2019 suit with a countersuit alleging that the Bodak Yellow rapper had threatened that gang members would assault her, but a judge later threw out the countersuit.
She also called out Cardi for allegedly calling her a ‘h*e’ and ‘dumb a** b****’ on Instagram.
Dismissed: Latasha K, whom Cardi called a ‘demon’ on the witness stand, filed a countersuit alleging that Cardi threatened to have gang members assault her, but a judge threw it out in 2021
Source: Read Full Article
