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Drake Sued by Concert Promoter

OVO honcho facing $200,000 suit after "newfound fame" caused him to shirk show dates, promoter alleges.

A concert promoter is suing Drake for breach of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment and more for allegedly canning two Chicago shows last year despite his OVO Touring company pocketing $200,000 in advances, reports SPIN.com.

According to the company's claims, Status Entertainment started communication with Drake's people in March 2012 and agreed to pay $200,000 for two shows. Status execs say over half of the fee was forked over, but the shows were canceled and OVO promised to return the money only to later inform Status that the funds were spent on a separate expense. 

Three months later, Drake performed in Chicago with a different promotional company and reportedly grossed between $340,000 to over $1 million in ticket sales.

The company is claiming that the "All Me" rapper got more popular since they began talks, and he tried to use that to drive up his asking price. "Instead of honoring their obligations," the legal docs state, the defendants "knowingly and intentionally breached the Agreements and refused to schedule the concert unless Plaintiffs gave them more money due to Drake's newfound fame."

The suit goes on to accuse Drake & Co. of even "fraudulently" contracting the show in the first place just to get ends and states that the defendants "profited handsomely" to the "detriment of plaintiffs." 

Both parties had resumed negotiations for another show scheduled for October 2012 at the Allstate Arena and Status transferred more than $100,000 to OVO, which was once again unreturned. The company is now asking for $202,800 to recoup what was paid out, plus court costs, interest and money that the company would have made from the shows.

Drake's star indeed brightened last year, helping him land at No. 6 on Fobes2012 "Hip-Hop Cash Kings." The Toronto native raked in $20.5 million between 2011 and 2012 from touring, records sales and endorsement deals. Whether or not he did that purposely scamming promoters remains to be seen.

A rep for the Grammy winner did not respond to BET.com's request for comment.    

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 (Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)

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