- Story courtesy of MTV
DJ Vlad filed a $4 million dollar lawsuit against Rick Ross in Federal Court in New York on Friday (August 15), claiming that the Miami MC orchestrated a "brutal attack" on Vlad (born Vlad Lyubovny) at the Ozone Awards in Houston last Sunday.
According to a press release from Vlad's attorney, Brian Caplan, the assault and battery lawsuit against Ross (born William Leonard Roberts II) alleges that "Rick Ross orchestrated a brutal attack upon DJ Vlad, carried out at his direction by his accomplices, in retribution for media coverage of Rick Ross' prior life as a correctional officer."
Among the injuries alleged to have been suffered by Vlad in the attack are a cut that required seven stitches below one of his eyes, three facial fractures, a corneal abrasion and possible permanent nerve damage. The suit is seeking $2 million in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages.
Vlad's YouTube channel, VladTV, recently featured an interview with the Clipse in which they discussed the controversy over recent claims about Ross' alleged former life as a corrections officer, which Ross has denied. It also linked to a widely distributed interview with incarcerated drug dealer "Freeway" Ricky Ross — whose name the rapper appropriated as a stage identity — in which Ricky Ross makes light of the MC; the link to the that interview has since been removed.
Prior to the altercation, which was reportedly caught on videotape by a number of bystanders, Vlad told MTV News that Ross had reached out to him recently.
The suit claims that the attack was launched by Ross in an attempt to "stifle [Vlad's] journalistic reporting and freedom of expression." Perhaps further fanning the flames, it portrays Ross as someone who has "painstakingly created his public persona to be that of a major drug dealer and 'gangster,' [but is] in reality a former correctional officer." It depicts the confrontation between the men as a result of Ross' alleged "calculated planning," which included luring DJ Vlad to a meeting "for the purpose of obtaining retribution."
According to the suit, Vlad received a text message from Ross on the afternoon of the Ozone Awards that read, "N----- will learn ... trillaaaa." Vlad had interviewed Ross twice before, which is allegedly how the MC obtained Vlad's phone number. After the DJ inquired about who the text was from, Ross allegedly responded, "Ross ... I'm hearing things."
A short time later, according to the suit, Ross called Vlad and said, "I've been hearing things about me on your Web site. ... We gonna make a story. ... We going to see each other. ... We going to talk. ... Where are you?" Upon learning that both men were in town for the Ozone Awards, Ross allegedly set up a time for the meeting on the second floor of the Hilton Hotel in Houston and arrived accompanied by four other people.
"Following a brief conversation between DJ Vlad and Ross in which Ross said, 'We got beef,' Ross' accomplices, who had surrounded DJ Vlad while he spoke with Ross, proceeded to strike and beat DJ Vlad in Ross' presence and without any protest on Ross' part," the suit says. The men then reportedly fled the scene and left Vlad laying on the ground "bleeding profusely" after one attacker shouted, "Yeah, mother----er, that's what you get."
A spokesperson for Ross had no comment on the suit at press time.
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