"Tupac was one of the most successful artists in the music business--and yet somehow, on the day he died, he had absolutely nothing to show for it," Fischbein told the Times. "We believe that Death Row withheld royalty payments from Tupac and failed to deliver many of the advances promised under his contract."
Fischbein says that Tupac signed an unusual handwritten, three-page contract with the rap label while in prison on a sex abuse charge. Death Row kingpin Marion "Suge" Knight bailed Shakur out shortly after the rapper inked the contract, which granted Death Row the right to release up to four albums, the Times reported. Fischbein, calls the contract "toilet paper" and says many of the advances specified in the document were never paid to Tupac.
While Death Row did not return phone calls today, a representative told the Times that the company did not misappropriate Tupac's money. Instead, the label claims it was Tupac's free-spending that put him in the red. Among his expenses, Death Row said: several cars; a house for his mother; a $300,000 bill at an exclusive hotel; hundreds of thousands of dollars for jewelry, furniture, security and limo service; and $2 million for recording and video production.
Fischbein thinks an independent audit of Death Row's books will help straighten out the mess, but so far, he said, the label has been uncooperative. The Times said it's unclear whether Afeni Shakur will seek to have the contract voided.
This is the latest legal wrangling between Shakur's estate and Death Row. Last week, Afeni Shakur won a court hearing ordering the label to stop selling Tupac hats, T-shirts and other merchandise until her trademark-infringement lawsuit is settled.