Jay-Z leaves accounting firm BDO due to fraud allegations

Accounting firm BDO lost celebrity clients, including Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion, after allegations of fraud involving client accounts.

A report from the Financial times confirms that Jay-Z and Megan Thee Stallion are among celebrities to cut ties with Miami accounting firm BDO following allegations in 2022 that an employee stole money from client accounts. The company manages personal and business finances on behalf of celebrities and other wealthy clients, with services ranging from paying bills to filing taxes.

According to the report, Jay-Z’s departure stems from dissatisfaction with BDO’s handling of fraud allegations in 2022, with an employee stealing money from rapper Fat Joe and partners failing to resolve inconsistencies in his financial records at the time. discover. The staff member, named Vanessa Rodriguez, allegedly used credit cards and bank accounts belonging to Fat Joe, his wife and his companies to withdraw thousands of dollars in cash.

Fat Joe, whose legal name is Joseph Cartagena, claimed that BDO’s management of his affairs was “so chaotic” that his mortgage payments were often late. Furthermore, he says it was impossible to reconcile different accounts, and it appeared that his credit card bills were sometimes paid from accounts of other famous customers, such as Major League Baseball players.

Vanessa Rodriguez was indicted in Miami last month on four counts of fraud. She was accused of spending money on lines of credit that were not hers, but many details of the charges have remained secret.

BDO has refuted the allegations against it in Fat Joe’s lawsuit, which was settled earlier this year on undisclosed terms. But that lawsuit and its details have had more far-reaching consequences for the accounting firm, leading to the departure of several high-profile clients. Jay-Z employees felt slighted by the way BDO responded to the allegations made by Fat Joe, a client of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Ultimately, that led to Jay-Z’s departure as a BDO client after he left in 2023 – within months of Fat Joe’s departure.

Megan Thee Stallion is also said to have left BDO over the allegations, after leaving as a client in 2022. BDO said Financial times that the firm “does not comment on pending litigation or matters relating to current or former clients.”