Adidas says Kanye West ‘mishandled’ $75 million of funds that were supposed to be used for marketing the Yeezy collection

• Kanye West and Adidas have been in a legal battle following the collapse of their partnership.
• Adidas is now asking West to return $75 million of marketing funds, per Bloomberg.
• The rapper previously said he spent $50 million of marketing money on his gospel choir tour.

Adidas is trying to get Kanye West to give back $75 million that it says he “mishandled,” Bloomberg reported. 

The rapper, now known as Ye, is in a legal battle with the sportswear company that’s being conducted in arbitration.

It relates to a marketing fund that was worth $100 million a year, according to court documents seen by Insider.

Adidas says $75 million was paid into two Yeezy bank accounts, but Ye and the companies “mishandled virtually all of the marketing funds,” by failing to keep it separate and spending on unauthorized purposes, per Bloomberg.

A contract signed by both parties, which Insider has seen, says the marketing fund may not be “commingled,” and if any funds are used inappropriately then Yeezy would have to repay it to Adidas.

The contract’s definition of appropriate marketing purposes has been redacted in the court filing.

In a 2020 interview on Nick Cannon’s podcast, Ye said that he spent $50 million of Yeezy marketing funds on Sunday Service — his gospel choir tour that included flights to Jamaica for 120 people.

“The Yeezys, they were selling themselves,” he said. “So instead of paying for ads, I invested it in the church.” He did not specify whether this money had come from Adidas. 

Adidas previously lost a court bid to freeze the eight-figure sum in May, but US District Judge Valerie Caproni said it was likely it would recover the funds in arbitration, Bloomberg reported.

Many of the case documents are redacted or under seal, but new details were accidentally revealed when a reporter walked into the courtroom without the lawyers noticing — despite the judge warning that could happen, per Bloomberg.

After the collapse of the Adidas-Ye partnership last year, the sportswear company said it was left with $1.3 billion of Yeezy stock.

It announced in May that it would sell the shoes and donate the profits to organizations representing people who “were hurt” by Ye’s anti-Semitic comments.

Adidas and a lawyer for Ye did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.