Roc Nation and Amazon have submitted evidence that seems to corroborate their claim that the attorney for the judge in Meek Mill’s ongoing case allegedly spoke ill of his client on tape, Complex reports.
The lawyer for the judge in the case, Charles Peruto, filed a lawsuit against the two companies after he was interviewed for a docu-series about Mill and claimed that Amazon and Roc Nation secretly taped him after they agreed he could go off-the-record.
Peruto represents Philadelphia Judge Genece Brinkley, whose actions have drawn criticisms of being biased against the rapper.
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The audio was leaked and in it, Peruto is heard saying that Brinkley looked “f—ing awful” and that she should have freed Mill and granted him a new trial.
Peruto claimed that the audio was not authentic and that producers edited it and shared it with the media to further promote the six-part ‘Free Meek’ docu-series on Amazon.
“These illegally intercepted and digitized oral communications were then edited and leaked to the press so that Peruto’s off the record words would be manipulated against him and his client, Judge Brinkley,” the plaintiff alleged in court documents obtained by Complex, “and to maliciously further the defendants’ own agenda in maximizing the buzz and profitability of the upcoming Meek Mill Documentary Series.”
Judge Gerald McHugh ordered that the audio undergo a forensic examination.
According to the outlet, Roc Nation and Amazon submitted court documents that support their claim that the audio was real. Catalin Grigoras and Jeff Smith—two forensic experts who reportedly determined that the audio was authentic.
“Even though they are recompressed into different formats, their content accurately reflects the dialogue recorded in the original evidence files,” the court documents read.
Now it’s up to Judge McHugh to decide if Peruto’s lawsuit will be dismissed based on the new findings.
Brinkley sent Mill to prison in 2017 for two to four years on a probation violation tied to a 2007 arrest, but the sentence was tossed in April after the Philadelphia district attorney’s office said the arresting officer had a history of performance problems.
Mill was freed from prison in April after his sentence was tossed, but the judge that some allege has a personal grudge against him is saying his case is not over yet.
Prosecutors agreed Mill should have a new trial in the case, but Brinkley would not budge. Earlier published reports have suggested her tough stance on the rapper is rooted in a personal grudge but that has not been proven.
Brinkley has been accused of being biased against Mill and at one point was the subject of a 2017 FBI investigation for a possible relationship she had with a rival music producer Charlie Mack, who Mill had worked with years ago.
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