Fat Joe and Scott Spina—who goes by Scotty Kickz—appear to have some bad blood between each other over Up NYC. The two co-founded the shoe store back in November 2016, and Spina is claiming he got the short end of the stick.
He maintains he contributed $150,000 of his own money for startup cost. In addition to that, he pulled together about $300,000 from loans and investors. The grand opening was successful raking in an estimated $175k on the first day, but Scotty got the boot a few weeks later.
Spina is alleging he got ousted from the business takeover style. He claims Joe and the store manager opened a new bank account for profits, in which he had no knowledge of or access to. He says Joe changed the name of the LLC the store operates under, from their joint venture, to his own. Scotty also mentioned that they removed his access to the store’s security footage and Nike account. He’s been banned from the store since Nov. 25, 2016, just 20 days after opening.
He’s suing for a return on his investment, as well as the portion of the business he believes is rightfully his. Things aren’t looking too good for Spina though. He has an impending lawsuit with the payment processing company Cayan. They’re suing for fraudulent charges he made with customers credit cards, after leaving the business.
