Kanye West’s financial woes mount as the rapper allegedly adds two years of property taxes to more than $1 MILLION of unpaid taxes
Kanye West’s financial troubles appear to have become even more dire as his tax bills have reportedly surpassed $1 million.
The rapper now has to pay additional property taxes on a ranch in Wyoming, according to the US Sun.
According to Park Country records seen by the publication, West’s company, Psalm Cody Ranch LLC, was scheduled to make two payments of $2,780.33 and $2,966.66 in property taxes for his Monster Lake Ranch in Cody, Wyoming, in May of this year, but the company has yet to pay the taxes.
West, whose ex-husband Amber Rose delivered a controversial speech at the Republican National Convention this week, bought the ranch for $14 million and had it for sale for the past three years before recently selling it.
These amounts are a sum of the debts, including four tax debts on Yeezy Apparel, worth a total of $934,033.
Kanye West’s unpaid tax debt has reportedly risen to over $1 million, the US Sun reported Tuesday. He reportedly owes additional property taxes on a Wyoming ranch; pictured in LA in March
There are also reportedly multiple tax claims against the 47-year-old rapper’s properties, including a $101,093 claim on two of his Los Angeles properties.
A legal insider who spoke to the US Sun about West’s legal entanglements claimed that West could use his non-payment to gain “control” – both over his employees and those who want to extort money from him.
Earlier in July, it was reported that West’s attorney Brian Brumfield had dropped him as a client and withdrawn from two lawsuits in which he represented the rapper, according to court documents.
He alleged in the documents that West “does not want to talk to an attorney” and “refuses to pay an attorney.”
The legal insider said that “it is impossible to get into a lawsuit with him” because “there is no compromise or reasonable behavior from him or his lawyers, who get little direction from him, so let the lawsuit go on – and keep billing him.”
“After years of working with his team, they like to maintain unpredictable control, money doesn’t seem to be the top priority, but making the other side sweat,” they continued. “It’s giving the courts the finger and showing that this lawsuit means absolutely nothing to Kanye.
“It makes legal action lengthy and difficult,” the insider added.
While not paying his bills is a strategy the former murderer uses, it’s unclear how much of his fortune — once estimated at more than $1 billion — still remains.
Much of that money was tied up in stocks and business deals that disappeared after companies like Adidas dropped him following West’s repeated anti-Semitic statements.
Adidas stopped selling its lucrative Yeezy shoes amid the controversy, and now there appears to be something wrong with its Yeezy fashion company as well.
According to Park Country records seen by the publication, West’s company Psalm Cody Ranch LLC owed two payments of $2,780 and $2,966 in property taxes for his Monster Lake Ranch in Cody, Wyoming in May of this year; pictured in Milan in February
He also reportedly has four tax liens on Yeezy Apparel worth $934,033, as well as liens worth $101,093 on two of his Los Angeles properties; photographed in February in LA
Adding to his financial woes is the chaos at Yeezy. After opening Yeezy.com and dropping his clothing prices to $20 across the board, the site is now down and says it’s not accepting new orders
Earlier this year, all of the items the fashion house sold were discounted, sometimes drastically reduced: down to just $20.
And now, Yeezy’s website is completely empty except for a small text that reads: “YZY WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT ONLINE PURCHASES UNTIL ALL ORDERS HAVE BEEN FILLED.”
It says there are ‘2500 ORDERS STILL AVAILABLE’, as of July 16th.
The website was flooded with orders after West advertised the site in a Super Bowl ad, announcing the $20 price tag, even for items that originally sold for hundreds of dollars on his website.
In a follow-up post on social media, he claimed the site had generated $19.3 million in revenue thanks to the increased activity.
According to the US Sun, the site is expected to have earned $70 million in the first quarter of 2024.
While the site’s closure is believed to be temporary, the lack of product sales is still said to be costing the Monster rapper millions in revenue.
The chaos on the site seems to reflect the chaos behind the scenes at Yeezy.
West was originally said to have hired designers and other creative talent on a contract basis, primarily from Los Angeles. But due to the controversies of recent years, he has started hiring mostly freelancers, many of whom are based in the United Kingdom.
He has reportedly hired designers from London-based fashion company Mowalola, although they apparently still work for their original employers with the company’s approval.
The company’s namesake, Mowalola Ogunlesi, was previously the designer of the disastrous Yeezy line for Gap, but left to start her own company. She continued to design some of West’s scandalous outfits for wife Bianca Censori.
West has also switched from hiring LA designers on a contract basis to hiring freelancers from the UK and is focusing on bringing in students and interns; pictured on June 9 in Narita, Japan
West’s designers include freelancers employed by London-based fashion clothing company Mowalola. Designer Mowalola Ogunlesi previously headed Yeezy Gap and continued to design Bianca Censori’s outfits after starting her own company; West and Censori were seen in Milan in February
She credits West for making a 2023 London fashion show possible through his funding.
According to the American newspaper The Sun, at least six of Mowalola’s designers also work as freelancers for Yeezy.
West is also reportedly looking for designers with few qualifications. He reportedly accepts students, interns and entry-level designers with little experience to work at Yeezy.
His fashion company has even started advertising designers on Craigslist and other social media sites, rather than through standard industry channels.