Partner Rodney Diggs and Associate Marina Samson obtained a default judgment against rapper Desiigner for posting defamatory remarks on his Instagram about College Gurl, LLC President, Jessica Brown. Desiigner was ordered to pay Brown $185,000 in economic and emotional damages for defamation and invasion of privacy.
College Gurl, LLC educates students and families on how to pay for college. In 2017, Desiigner hired Brown to mentor his sister and help her get into Howard University. Through Brown’s mentorship, Desiigner’s sister was enrolled into a summer program at the university to improve her grades, and was ultimately accepted to Howard University.
During the three weeks between the end of the summer program and the start of the university’s school year, Desiigner’s sister went to New York and asked Brown to sign a month-to-month lease for a storage unit to keep her belongings. She then decided she didn’t want to return to Howard University for the school year, and insisted she did not want her belongings back, despite multiple attempts by Brown to return them. However, in August 2017, Desiigner posted a photo of Brown to his 1.5 million followers on Instagram, falsely claiming that she was holding his sister’s property, calling her a “fraud,” and warning people to stay away from “her college scams.”