LOS ANGELES – A judge has granted a man’s request for a $49,000 default judgment against rapper Famous Dex, who was sued for allegedly stealing the plaintiff’s expensive watch in 2021 and then lying to police about who was the victim.
On Tuesday, a clerk for Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet issued a minute order stating that the judge will sign the proposed judgment presented to her by plaintiff Michael Francati’s attorney in February.
Francati’s suit alleged fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, fraud in the inducement, false promise, theft, unjust enrichment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He sought a default judgment because the singer had not participated in the suit brought in April 2021.
The singer’s real name is Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. In a sworn declaration, Francati said he and the 29-year-old entertainer already knew each other socially when he contacted the singer in March 2021. At the time, the singer was at the Saticoy Smoke Shop in Van Nuys, according to Francati.
The plaintiff said at one point he asked the singer to “showcase my luxury watch on his Instagram account. I thought it was a good opportunity to have my watch viewed by a large crowd because Famous Dex is a well-known rapper and has a massive audience on Instagram.”
The singer accepted Francati’s proposal and the two decided to meet that night at the smoke shop, Francati says. When Francati arrived at the business, the rapper was still in his car and asked the plaintiff to hand him the watch, according to the plaintiff.
“I handed him the watch, thinking that he wanted it to take a look at it,” according to Francati, who says the singer instead drove away with the watch.
After a period of time, the singer called Francati and said four men had robbed him, taking the watch with them, according to Francati, who reported the alleged robbery and met with the singer again at the smoke shop, Francati says.
“Famous Dex made up false and misleading information to the officers, as the robbery had never taken place,” according to Francati.
Without giving Francati a chance to tell his side of the story, the officers placed the plaintiff inside their patrol car and let the singer leave, the plaintiff said.
“I was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the police car for a prolonged time because Famous Dex, lying to the officers, told them that I had allegedly staged the robbery and set him up to be arrested,” Francati said.
That same night, the singer displayed Francati’s watch on the entertainer’s Instagram account, according to the plaintiff.
Francati said he has suffered “from a great deal of anxiety, stress and monetary loss.”