A former hype man for Fat Joe filed a lawsuit against him on Thursday, in which he alleges the rapper engaged in sex acts with at least three minors. Terrance “T.A.” Dixon, who worked with Fat Joe (whose real name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena) for 16 years, is seeking up to $20 million in damages for trafficking, fraud, emotional distress, and other accusations, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in New York. A lawyer for the rapper denied the allegations in a statement to the Cut, calling them “complete fabrications” and “lies intended to damage his reputation.”
Dixon alleges he “personally witnessed” Fat Joe “engage in sexual relations with children who were fifteen and sixteen years old” in the lawsuit, which lists three anonymous minor Jane Does. One of them, a 16-year-old, allegedly performed “oral sex and other sexual acts” on Fat Joe “in exchange for cash, clothing, and payment of her cell phone bill,” according to the lawsuit. Dixon also claimed that Fat Joe paid for a Brazilian butt lift for a 15-year-old who he was allegedly having sexual relations with, due to her body “being adolescent and not fully formed.” Fat Joe allegedly met the third Jane Doe “when she was 15 years old, turning 16,” and he allegedly “was in love” with her and “even contemplated leaving his wife.”
Dixon also claims he was a victim of the rapper’s alleged sexual abuse, accusing him in the lawsuit of “a wide spectrum of sexual coercion, psychological control, forced exhibitionism, and surveillance-based humiliation,” which he argues meets the legal definition of sex trafficking. According to the lawsuit, Dixon was “routinely coerced into engaging in sexual acts” by Fat Joe, who he said “arranged and orchestrated these encounters … frequently remaining in the room to watch, record, or provide explicit direction and commands.” In his 16 years working with the rapper, Dixon alleges that he was “coerced into more than 4,000 sexual acts” to which he “did not willingly consent.”
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According to the lawsuit, Dixon submitted to the coercion out of fear of retaliation, including “financial punishment, professional sabotage, abandonment in foreign countries, or physical harm.” In one instance, Dixon said he resisted participating in one such sexual encounter while abroad, and he claims that Fat Joe retaliated by canceling his return flight, “deliberately stranding Plaintiff without money, shelter, or support.”
“These calculated and repeated acts of sexual coercion served a clear purpose in Defendant’s Enterprise: reinforcing Plaintiff’s ongoing subordination, obedience, and silence through humiliation, fear, and psychological domination,” the suit alleges. “Sexual compliance became a condition of Plaintiff’s continued employment, access to essential resources, safe travel, and basic human dignity.”
Dixon also accused the rapper of “financial fraud” and “coercive labor exploitation,” claiming that he was “consistently underpaid, denied songwriting credits, and deliberately concealed from royalties and backend compensation” for music he claims he contributed to. In addition to serving as the rapper’s hype man, Dixon said he “contributed as a lyricist, background vocalist, security team member, and creative collaborator.”
In his statement, Joe Tacopina, an attorney representing Fat Joe, accused Dixon of attempting to extort the rapper in order to “deflect attention from the civil suit we filed first.” In April, Fat Joe sued Dixon for defamation after Dixon had called him a pedophile on social media, according to TMZ. “Law enforcement is aware of the extortionate demand at the heart of this scheme,” Tacopina said. “Mr. Cartagena will not be intimidated. We have taken legal action to expose this fraudulent campaign and hold everyone involved accountable.”
