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BDO has been ordered to pay more than $5 million in damages to Jay-Z’s former tax advisor, who said he was wrongfully fired because he was suspected of helping celebrity clients in a dispute with the company over stolen money.
Kashyap Bakhai, a BDO partner whose clients included wealthy sports stars and entertainers, was fired nearly two years ago when the accounting firm faced allegations that another employee had accessed client accounts for personal use, according to legal filings and people who are familiar with the dispute.
A three-member arbitration panel ruled in Bakhai’s favor in September after interviewing witnesses and reviewing hundreds of pieces of evidence, according to a court filing. Such disputes normally remain confidential, but limited details have become public as BDO has failed to pay the money awarded to Bakhai.
Bakhai filed a petition in a federal court in Miami, where he was based, to affirm the judgment and force BDO to pay, listing the money in question as “more than $5 million.” The judge has yet to decide on the enforcement request.
BDO alleged that Bakhai improperly passed on information to the staff of Jay Z‘s management company, Roc Nation, people familiar with the dispute said. Fat Joe, a rapper from the Roc Nation stable who was a client of another BDO partner, sued the accounting firm in 2022 because he was a victim of theft. Roc Nation staff had pressured Bakhai to help them investigate what happened, the people said.
Bakhai denied that he had acted inappropriately and took BDO to the arbitration panel to challenge his dismissal, according to court documents. He said he was unfairly stripped of his partnership interest just months before BDO’s remaining partners received a windfall by converting the business into a corporation and selling a stake to an employee trust.
The Financial Times reported in September that rappers including Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion had dumped BDO as their advisor following the theft allegations. BDO denied the claims in Fat Joe’s lawsuit, which was settled earlier this year.
Also in September, former BDO employee Vanessa Rodriguez was indicted in Miami on four counts of fraud, accusing her of issuing credit cards that did not belong to her. She has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
BDO and a lawyer for Bakhai declined to comment on the dispute.
The two parties are still in arbitration over whether BDO should cover Bakhai’s legal costs.