Quaz

Notes on money, markets and the people who got rich from them

[Quaz @quazinov]

@monvyrn $51m on the line and he still just wanted his album out

[Quaz @quazinov]

Whitney Houston's own father sued her for $100 million. He did it from a hospital bed.

$100 million was the exact size of the record deal he said he helped her land.

In the video below, he looks into the camera and says: "You pay me the money that you owe me. If you do that, you haven't got a lawsuit."

He said 7 points of her deal were his: "Seven points is mine." He says she agreed to it.

Her answer to Oprah, years later: "I was paying the bills. I took care of my father."

Then it gets darker.

The man pushing his wheelchair was Kevin Skinner, a convicted Newark drug dealer.

Her father died in February 2003. Skinner kept suing her anyway.

He claimed he owned 80% of her father's company. Her lawyer said the stock certificate "looked like it was something he typed up the night before."

Skinner refused to sit for a deposition. In April 2004 a judge threw the $100 million case out for good.

Whitney never blamed her dad. She said he "was being influenced by people that were lying."

The case for her father: he managed her career and says she broke a promise.

The case for Whitney: she paid his bills while his driver used his name.

So did Whitney owe her father $100 million, or did someone use a sick man in a wheelchair to get it?

[Quaz @quazinov]

@vebuw77090 paying the ceo millions right before filing for bankruptcy, the court record says it all

[Quaz @quazinov]

@eweqss1431 exactly, the second that number came out people started showing up with claims

[Quaz @quazinov]

Whitney Houston's own father sued her for $100 million. He did it from a hospital bed.

$100 million was the exact size of the record deal he said he helped her land.

In the video below, he looks into the camera and says: "You pay me the money that you owe me. If you do that, you haven't got a lawsuit."

He said 7 points of her deal were his: "Seven points is mine." He says she agreed to it.

Her answer to Oprah, years later: "I was paying the bills. I took care of my father."

Then it gets darker.

The man pushing his wheelchair was Kevin Skinner, a convicted Newark drug dealer.

Her father died in February 2003. Skinner kept suing her anyway.

He claimed he owned 80% of her father's company. Her lawyer said the stock certificate "looked like it was something he typed up the night before."

Skinner refused to sit for a deposition. In April 2004 a judge threw the $100 million case out for good.

Whitney never blamed her dad. She said he "was being influenced by people that were lying."

The case for her father: he managed her career and says she broke a promise.

The case for Whitney: she paid his bills while his driver used his name.

So did Whitney owe her father $100 million, or did someone use a sick man in a wheelchair to get it?

[Quaz @quazinov]

@zovarynx he gets caught, pays a fine and goes on leno like nothing happened she does 180 days

[Quaz @quazinov]

@Ava230156331909 yeah its heartbreaking, your own dad going after you for money like that

[Quaz @quazinov]

@Mr16969 there was paper actually, a stock certificate it just looked typed up the night before

[Quaz @quazinov]

@scientxbt they cancelled a whole tour over a $3.25 fee and now the fees cost more than the ticket did back then

[Quaz @quazinov]

@jace_KD knowing when to walk out of that room probably saved his life

[Quaz @quazinov]

@0x_Squirrel wrote it when he had nothing and gave it back to the man who lost everything. that one gets me every time

[Quaz @quazinov]

@sorennxbt three years to build $40m, three weeks to lose it. the run was never the hard part, stopping was

[Quaz @quazinov]

@DemonJin86848 Good question, the case outlived him, so it wasn't him

[Quaz @quazinov]

@Tolot0caw that's how Whitney saw it too, she never blamed him

[Quaz @quazinov]

@kardinall and a judge threw it out for good in 2004

[Quaz @quazinov]

@xLepsius Chapter 11 isn't broke, but posting cash during it was never going to help

[Quaz @quazinov]

Janet Jackson's husband, the one nobody knew existed, demanded $25 million from her. He had signed a prenup.

Then he sued her again for more than $10 million, claiming she promised him a cut of her Rhythm Nation money.

They married in secret in 1991. For 9 years, almost nobody knew. Not the fans, not the press, barely even her family.

In the video below, Janet tells Anderson Cooper: "We just ran off and kind of did it... for the wrong reasons... thinking that you could save someone."

During that secret marriage, she signed an $80 million record deal with Virgin. The world found out she had a husband only in 2000, when he filed for divorce and came for the money.

Elizondo said he signed the prenup under duress. He had been her dancer, co-writer and director during her biggest era.

His side: he helped build the empire, so he earned a share. Her side: he signed a prenup, and the money was hers.

In October 2003 they settled. Press reports said he walked away with upward of $10 million.

So did Elizondo earn a piece of Janet's empire, or did he hide in the shadows for 9 years and then cash in for $25 million?

[Quaz @quazinov]

@versivald Landis filed first, the government only joined after the Oprah interview

[Quaz @quazinov]

@SdOceanSea that'd be one way to settle the podcast comments

[Quaz @quazinov]

Roseanne Barr signed away her cut of a show paying her co-stars $300,000 an episode. ABC had canceled her within 12 hours of one tweet.

In the video below, she says of John Goodman on her podcast: "Took him three months to say that, after he signed the contract to split my money with the other actors."

In 2018, her Roseanne reboot was ABC's top-rated show. Barr, Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Sara Gilbert had just signed for $300,000 an episode for the next season, up from $250,000.

Then came her tweet about Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. ABC pulled the plug within 12 hours.

Barr is credited with creating the Roseanne Conner character. That entitled her to fees and backend on any spinoff. ABC would only make The Conners if she got nothing from it.

She signed. Her statement: "I agreed to the settlement in order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved."

Whether she got any one-time payment to walk away was never reported.

The Conners premiered that October. Her character was dead of an opioid overdose. Barr tweeted: "I AIN'T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!"

The show ran seven seasons, through 2025.

ABC's side: the tweet was hers, and the network was adamant she have no creative or financial role, of any kind.

So did ABC take a $300,000-an-episode show from her over one tweet, or did Roseanne get off easy?

[Jace @JaceClipz]

https://t.co/gIUd6VYPDv

[Quaz @quazinov]

@DemonJin86848 that's why the second suit was about Rhythm Nation money, not the marriage

[Quaz @quazinov]

Janet Jackson's husband, the one nobody knew existed, demanded $25 million from her. He had signed a prenup.

Then he sued her again for more than $10 million, claiming she promised him a cut of her Rhythm Nation money.

They married in secret in 1991. For 9 years, almost nobody knew. Not the fans, not the press, barely even her family.

In the video below, Janet tells Anderson Cooper: "We just ran off and kind of did it... for the wrong reasons... thinking that you could save someone."

During that secret marriage, she signed an $80 million record deal with Virgin. The world found out she had a husband only in 2000, when he filed for divorce and came for the money.

Elizondo said he signed the prenup under duress. He had been her dancer, co-writer and director during her biggest era.

His side: he helped build the empire, so he earned a share. Her side: he signed a prenup, and the money was hers.

In October 2003 they settled. Press reports said he walked away with upward of $10 million.

So did Elizondo earn a piece of Janet's empire, or did he hide in the shadows for 9 years and then cash in for $25 million?