2pac’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, is reportedly taking legal action to protect her brother’s estate.
As reported on The Jasmine Brand, Sekyiwa and ‘The Tupac Shakur Foundation’ filed a lawsuit against the trustee of 2Pac’s estate, Tom Whalley. Whalley is the former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records.
The article points out that after Tupac’s tragic death in 1996, his mother, Afeni Shakur, was the beneficiary of his estate. She passed away in 2016, and Whalley became the executor of Afeni’s estate, which has funds from 2pac primarily. Sekyiwa and ‘The Tupac Shakur Foundation’ accuse Whalley of embezzling millions “for his own benefit.” According to the lawsuit, it says,”Upon information and belief, Whalley has already received more than $5.5 million that he has paid himself in the last five years through Amaru…he has effectively embezzled millions of dollars for his own benefit well in excess of what would be reasonably necessary to retrain a property qualified third-party to perform such services.” It goes on to say, “As a result, Whalley has unreasonably enriched himself at the expense of the beneficiaries and in bad faith by taking excessive compensation.”
Reportedly legal documents say Sekyiwa is the primary beneficiary of Afeni’s estate and should have received items that belonged to her late brother. In addition, the foundation claims they’re entitled to 10% of annual income from the estate. The plaintiffs don’t want Whalley to have control over the 2pac’s trust. In addition, they want a judge order him to “recompense” them at least $4,000,000. The plaintiffs are also seeking a full accounting from Afeni’s estate, including Whalley’s compensation in connection with 2Pac’s estate, insurance matters, and filing of tax returns, TJB reports.
Howard King, a lawyer for the trust, Howard King, said he’s disappointed by the allegations. King said, “Tom Whalley was a friend and confidant of Tupac and his mother, Afeni Shakur, since signing Tupac to his first major recording deal in the 90s and helping to arrange the funds to bail Tupac out of jail. After Tupac passed away, Afeni requested Tom’s help with the job of managing the Tupac assets Afeni had inherited, a task he performed, without charge, for many years.” He continued,
“In 2015, at Afeni’s request, Tom became the manager of Amaru, the company Afeni had established to protect and exploit all Tupac assets, on normal and typical terms. Under Tom’s management, enhanced by various personal loans Tom has made to the company, Amaru has gone from virtually insolvent to a solid financial footing.” He continued,
“Afeni’s faith in Tom was further evidenced by her appointment of Tom as successor trustee of her trust. Tom became the current trustee after Afeni passed away, but has never taken any trustee’s fees even though his workload has increased well beyond what his management of Amaru required.” He ended with,
“These legal claims are disappointing and detrimental to all beneficiaries of the trust. We are confident the Court will promptly conclude that Tom has always acted in the best interests of Amaru, the trust, and all beneficiaries.”