Following the release of his fifth studio album Austin at the end of July 2023, American rapper Post Malone is now facing a lawsuit filed by Martorell Law, who formerly represented Malone’s ex-girlfriend Ashlen Diaz.
According to documents obtained by RadarOnline, the law firm claims to have photos and text messages that relate to the rapper’s alleged “physical abuse” of Diaz—who had an on-and-off relationship with Malone from 2015 to 2018—and he plans to show the evidence in court.
It is believed that Martorell Law sued both Diaz and Malone, whose legal name is Austin Post, in 2022 for violating the alleged terms of a palimony agreement Diaz initially sought with the help of the law firm.
Allegedly, when Diaz and Malone first split in 2018, Diaz was hoping to earn a payout even though she never married the singer. She then approached Martorell Law to help with her case, and guaranteed them a percentage of the settlement.
In the recent lawsuit however, Martorell Law claims that Malone convinced Diaz to drop them and work out a private deal with him. The rapper allegedly paid his ex-girlfriend $350,000 to settle her claims out of court. It is believed that Martorell Law had initially been seeing a payment from Malone of around $800,000.
This led the firm to sue both of them in 2022, demanding damages for Diaz and Post cutting it out of commissions allegedly owed. In response, Post recently demanded that the lawsuit be thrown out of court and argued that he had no control over Diaz.
The rapper called the claims “frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation,” as stated by RadarOnline. Diaz previously moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
Now, in a newly filed motion, Martorell Law is fighting back against Post’s claim that he had no control over Diaz, with the firm claiming that Diaz told them he physically abused her during the relationship.
Martorell Law said Post “pressured and coerced Defendant Diaz” into dismissing her lawyer, adding that he did so “in order to avoid paying a higher settlement sum, and in order to continue manipulating his victim, Defendant Diaz, using his money, power, and control over her to prevent her story from being shared with the world and to avoid near-certain litigation.”
“Defendant Diaz, unfortunately, gave in to such duress (as victims often do), to her own detriment, separating her from legal representation she desperately needed,” the motion further stated.
The filing continued: “Rather than face accountability, however, Defendant Post downplays his control over his ex-girlfriend, attempting to portray this action and twist this clearly wrongful behaviour as somehow akin to a party trying to stifle competition.”
The firm asked the court for permission to amend the lawsuit to include detailed “factual allegations, including images and text messages.” In other words, they claim they have some concrete evidence against the ‘Sunflower’ singer.
“It simply cannot be the case that one of the world’s most powerful celebrities with a documented history of physical and emotional abuse towards his romantic partner uses his power and money to deprive her of legal representation and in doing so, blatantly interferes with a contingency fee agreement robbing her attorney from being paid and gets away with it scot-free,” the motion concluded.