LaMelo Ball is back in the news for allegedly making some questionable decisions. Now, a business owned by the father of former NFL star Cam Newton is suing the new Minnesota Timberwolves player.
Agape Property Management brought the complaint, filed Monday in Mecklenburg Superior Court in North Carolina, as an extension of allegations against Jermaine Jackson, LaMelo Ball’s manager since high school, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Ball had been living in a luxury apartment above Chima Steakhouse in uptown for the previous five years. Before his family’s business took ownership, former Panthers quarterback Cam Newton owned both units.
According to the lawsuit, LaMelo Ball subleased one of the units to Jackson. Ball continued to lease the unit for Jackson after purchasing the one he lived in outright for $2.47 million. However, the lawsuit claims that for almost a year, Jackson failed to pay his rent.
Jackson’s lawyer has claimed in his defense that his client refused to pay an extra $13,500 per month for the apartment when an aquarium in the unit started leaking. Instead, he paid the initial rate of $7,500. In May, Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, appeared in a small Mecklenburg district courtroom with photographs of the leak, which did not demonstrate that the unit was uninhabitable, according to the judge.
A judge previously evicted Jackson after Agape Property Management claimed that Jackson owed over $280,000 in overdue rent and HOA compliance costs. The firm is now holding Ball, who has earned over $108 million playing in the NBA, accountable for that money as well.
So, while many residents of Charlotte may be celebrating safer streets with LaMelo Ball leaving town, his previous presence in the city is still causing consternation for others.