CHICAGO — Kanye West’s blockbuster career has always been entwined with Chicago, from his early days as a rapper and music producer on the South Side to the 2021 “listening party” at Soldier Field celebrating the release of his latest album “Donda.”
Now, the multiple-Grammy-winning artist, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, could find himself on a different stage in his own hometown: a witness stand at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
West, 44, has been subpoenaed to testify at the upcoming federal trial of Arjun Dhillon, a onetime employee of West’s who is charged with using the singer’s name in an attempt to swindle a quarter of a million dollars from a rich philanthropist running an online charity campaign, according to court records.
Though West is only peripherally involved in the case, his testimony would certainly cause a major stir at Chicago’s downtown federal courthouse, where celebrities such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Bobby Simmons, and even Donald Trump have all taken the witness stand in various cases in recent years.
Until now, West’s identity has been a closely guarded secret in Dhillon’s indictment, which was filed in January 2020 and referred to the artist only as “Musician A.”
As the trial has neared, however, attorneys for Dhillon has subpoenaed the law firm that represents West in the case, Pryor Cashman LLP, for records regarding its representation of the entertainer as well as certain communications the firm had about the case.
Dhillon’s defense team has also subpoenaed West himself to potentially appear to testify at trial, which is set to begin with jury selection on April 4.
Pryor Cashman as well as other law firms that represent West in family court and civil matters have so far refused to accept service, and West himself has not been personally been given notice of the subpoena, Dhillon’s attorney, Sheldon Zenner, said at a status hearing in the case on Wednesday.
That annoyed U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin, who said “it’s just a matter of time” before a process server or federal marshal finds West and serves him personally with the paperwork, something that could be a potential embarrassment for him.
Durkin told an attorney for Pryor Cashman it would be in everybody’s best interest for them to simply accept receipt of the subpoena and file a motion to quash it if need be.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Havey also agreed that with jury selection approaching, it was time to drop the “Musician A” moniker and identify West as a potential witness, since prospective jurors will have to be screened for any preconceived notions they have about the singer, good or bad.
Havey also said court security would need to be notified in advance of West’s potential appearance at the building.
Durkin set a deadline of March 24 for prosecutors to submit their witness list and both sides to file proposed a jury questionnaire.
West, whose highly publicized and tumultuous divorce from Kim Kardashian was made official earlier this month, has reportedly been splitting time between his multimillion-dollar mansion in Malibu and his 4,000-acre ranch in Wyoming.
A docket entry posted in Dhillon’s case earlier this week noted that the subpoena had been “returned unexecuted as to Ye (formally known as) Kanye West.”
Attorneys for Dhillon declined to comment. A lawyer for Pryor Cashman LLC could not immediately be reached.
If West is ordered to appear in court, it would come at a particularly sensitive time for the artist.
In addition to a constant drumbeat of news about his divorce, West has also faced stiff backlash in recent days on social media after releasing a music video that depicts him kidnapping and burying a claymation version of "Saturday Night Live" star Pete Davidson, who is now dating Kardashian.
West has also repeatedly attacked Davidson on Instagram over his romance with the rapper’s ex-wife. In recent weeks, he’s also released two poems talking about his bitter split from Kardashian as well as his own death.
“No one wanted to tell me I was DEAD/And only people that would talk to me were in my head,” one poem posted earlier this week begins. “No one wanted to tell me I was DEAD/Only people who loved me visit in their dreams instead.”
According to the indictment, Dhillon in 2019 convinced a Florida-based philanthropist who was running a crowdsourcing charity campaign to wire $250,000 to a bank account purportedly affiliated with one of West’s companies, but was actually controlled by Dhillon.
The victim was identified in the charges only as Victim A, but sources have told the Tribune he is Bill Pulte, grandson of the late founder of Detroit home-building giant PulteGroup who has found social media stardom by giving away money to charity and documenting it all through Twitter.
As part of the ruse, Dhillon created false emails purporting to be between himself and West to convince Pulte that he was close to the artist, when in fact West had ended their relationship in October 2018, according to the charges.
Dhillon told the victim West was willing to lend money and star power to victim’s cause in exchange for financial support of West’s “design studio project,” the indictment stated.
After the victim wired the funds, however, Dhillon’s bank flagged the transaction. Dhillon “falsely represented” to the bank that he was associated with West in an effort to keep them from taking back the money, according to the indictment.
Ultimately, the victim was able to alert his own bank to the potential fraud and stop the funds from being disbursed to Dhillon, according to court records.
Pulte, who is expected to testify at the trial, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
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