Three black friends who spend $500,000 a year at Louis Vuitton sue brand after being banned from store and accused of using drug money

Three black friends who spend half a million dollars a year at Louis Vuitton are suing the luxury brand after receiving a shocking email banning them from using “drug money” to make purchases.

Tracy Renne Williams, her daughter Brandi Williams and a friend, Kristopher Enoch, filed a race discrimination lawsuit against Louis Vuitton in federal court in California on Friday.

The plaintiffs accuse the luxury company of banning them from its stores because they were “black” and telling them they would be arrested if they returned, the lawsuit said.

In September 2022, Tracy, a “VIP” customer of the brand, ordered $50,000 worth of items to be delivered to her home from the Louis Vuitton store in Costa Mesa, California. Shortly after, she received a terrifying email from the brand stating that it could “no longer” do business with her.

When Tracy sent her white assistant out to purchase the exact items she wanted, he was treated “respectfully” and “was not threatened with arrest,” the complaint said.

The email to Tracy read: ‘Dear Ms. Tracy Williams, We understand that Louis Vuitton was unable to accommodate your needs.

‘We would like to inform you that Louis Vuitton no longer wishes to do business with you and we request that you no longer visit our boutiques or attempt to order our products by telephone, online or in person at a Louis Vuitton store.

‘Please do not make any further attempts to contact the stores. All further attempts to communicate with Louis Vuitton should be made in writing to our Legal Department: Attn: General Counsel, Louis Vuitton Americas, 1 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10022.’

After receiving the damning correspondence, Tracy visited a Louis Vuitton store in Beverly Hills, where she was told by a white manager “that she was no longer welcome to shop at the store and that she would be arrested if she stayed or returned,” the lawsuit says.

When Tracy didn’t receive the products and a refund for her order, she sent her white assistant to the same store, where he was treated very differently than she was, the suit said.

“On the contrary, Louis Vuitton staff treated him respectfully and even when the employee indicated he would pay for the items with several thousand dollars in cash (and did so), he was not otherwise prevented from making the purchase,” the document said.

In the lawsuit, Tracy was recognized as a “VIP” customer for the brand, which gives her access to exclusive events and sales, as well as “dedicated Louis Vuitton concierges” who “tend to her customer service needs.”

After Tracy was allegedly “blacklisted” by the company, the lawsuit alleges that she, who once had a “lucrative social media presence” to promote her extravagant finds, lost out on approximately $40,000 in revenue.

Last year, Tracy attempted to purchase nine pairs of limited-edition Nike Air Force 1 sneakers for $2,300 a pair, but was unable to because of the alleged ban, the lawsuit says.

Instead, those custom sneakers were sold to the public at auction for $176,400-$352,800 per pair. Those same shoes have since been resold for more than $1 million per pair, the lawsuit says.

According to the legal documents, her daughter Brandi was also “discriminated against” by the brand when she was shopping at a Chicago store in July 2023.

During her interaction, a white store manager who “recognized” her “soon allowed her to shop there,” the complaint said.

According to the complaint, the manager also “baselessly” accused Brandi of “spending drug money” during her shopping trip.

Brandi then sent her “non-Black friend” to the same store to purchase the items she wanted using a gift card in her name, but was soon approached by an employee who discovered the purchase was for her and told her the purchase was “illegal,” the lawsuit states.

The store also demanded that she return the items she purchased, the legal documents said.

Brandi then entered a Louis Vuitton store in New Orleans, but was again told to leave “or she would be arrested,” the complaint said.

Tracy’s friend Kristopher had a similar experience in September 2022 while shopping at a Louis Vuitton store in Beverly Hills.

Kristopher was charmed by a jacket that a “non-black customer” showed no interest in after a store employee showed it to them, the lawsuit alleges.

Kristopher told staff he wanted to buy the jacket for Tracy, but employees told him “the jacket was not available,” without the store manager giving him a clear explanation, the lawsuit says.

Following Brandi and Kristopher’s interactions, they received “materially identical messages” from the luxury brand as Tracy, the lawsuit alleges.

After each came into contact with the brand in their own way, Tracy tried to resolve the issue, the lawsuit states.

According to the filing, the stores in Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa blamed each other for the situation.

She even contacted the company’s vice president, who told him “there was nothing he could do” and referred her to the brand’s legal team, the lawsuit says.

Tracy has not heard from the brand’s legal representatives, the lawsuit states.

The legal filing also cited Oprah Winfrey’s “experience with hateful racial discrimination” at Louis Vuitton, when the store refused to sell her a handbag in 2015.

“This bag is for the Italian people; it’s only for the Italian people,” the talk show host, who discussed the situation in a video, recalled an Italian saleswoman telling her at the time.

The three plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and are suing each other for racial discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, employment discrimination, tortious breach of contract and theft, the lawsuit says.

DailyMail.com contacted Louis Vuitton for comment.