In 2022, the former director of Brand Management for 50 Cent’s Sire Spirits, Mitchell Green, reportedly siphoned $2.2 million from the company. He was ordered to pay back $6.2 million. He filed for bankruptcy, in part to avoid paying the judgment.
According to AllHipHop, Sire Spirits filed a complaint against Green on June 2, 2023, stating that bankruptcy protection shouldn’t protect him from having to pay the money because he obtained it illegally. Although Green was given 30 days to respond to the summons and complaint, he failed to answer, and a default judgment was entered against him.
The former Sire Spirits employee was accused of selling Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi champagne for a higher price while receiving kickbacks from wholesalers. Court records show that he made money by labeling the funds he was given as “agency fees.”
James Berman, the attorney for 50 Cent, said that Green was paid a six-figure salary and was getting benefits as an employee. Greed was the reason he decided to take money from Sire Spirits.
Green allegedly admitted to his “Get Rich or Die Trying“ scheme in February 2020. He confessed, “after two years of embezzling from Sire Spirits,” because he claimed that he was being extorted by someone who knew what he was doing, and that person threatened to expose his past transgressions. Sire Spirits fired him and took him to arbitration, where they emerged victorious against him.
The arbitrator ruled that Green was responsible for the money stolen and another $948,096 the former employee paid to a wholesaler. He had been ordered to pay an additional $2.7 million in fees for costs, damages, and attorneys fees. Court records revealed that he owes a total of $6.2 million.
With the latest ruling, the hip-hop recording artist turned television executive has vowed to go after Green’s assets to recover the money stolen from Sire Spirits while Green was employed there.
