Music-centric finance firm removes HarbourView from its lawsuit against Pras

completemusicupdate.com:

An American music-centric finance firm that sued Pras and investment outfit HarbourView over a big old rights acquisition deal has requested that the latter be removed from the litigation.

The amendment to the lawsuit seems to have been made because of jurisdiction issues.HarbourView, one of those equity funds buying up music rights, announced a deal with Pras last July.

It seemingly acquired the musician’s royalty rights stemming from his past deals with Sony Music that covered the Fugees’ output and his 1998 solo album.However, Open On Sunday LLP – which allows artists and songwriters to access upfront cash secured on their music rights – claims that it loaned Pras money at the start of last year secured on those Sony royalties.When he subsequently failed to meet his obligations under the loan agreement, Open On Sunday began legal proceedings which included foreclosing on the assets the loan was secured on, ie the Sony royalties.

It was then that they discovered Pras had sold those assets to HarbourView.Prior to all that, Pras had tried to persuade Open On Sunday to amend his loan agreement so that it would be secured on a book deal rather than his Sony royalties, but the finance firm declined to make any such amendment.However, a lawsuit filed in October claimed, Pras and his legal team forged a release document showing that Open On Sunday had agreed to accept the theoretical book deal as security on the loan, and then used that to convince HarbourView that it could acquire the musician’s royalty rights.Open On Sunday’s lawsuit targeted Pras and his lawyers, and also HarbourView itself which, the litigation claimed, should have done more due diligence before doing its deal with the ex-Fugee, instead of “eagerly.