The sister of Tupac Shakur has filed a lawsuit against the executor of their late mother’s estate, claiming he “embezzled millions,” Billboard reports. She also stated that the executor refused to return personal items that have “tremendous sentimental value,” such as the rapper’s gold records.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles, Sekyiwa Shakur along with The Tupac Shakur Foundation accused Tom Whalley of “blatant violations” of his role as executor of Afeni Shakur-Davis’s estate, including allegedly appointing himself in a management position which is a conflict of interest.
“He has effectively embezzled millions of dollars for his own benefit,” Sekyiwa wrote. “Whalley has unreasonably enriched himself at the expense of the beneficiaries and in bad faith by taking excessive compensation in a position from which he should properly be barred based on the inherent conflict of interest.”
Following Tupac’s passing in September of 1996, his mother was named the sole beneficiary of his estate. When Afeni passed away in 2016, Whalley was appointed as the executor of her estate.
The suit claims that Whalley has committed a wide range of “malfeasance” as executor such as naming himself as the manager of Amaru Entertainment, the record label that released some of Tupac’s music posthumously, and is the “principal income-producing asset of the Trust.”
“Whalley has already received more than $5.5 million that he has paid himself in the last five years through Amaru,” Sekyiwa wrote.
Additionally, she says he refused to release personal property held by the estate that Afeni inherited including Tupac’s cars, his jewelry, his artwork, and even his “golden records.”
“It is clear that he has used and abused his powers as executor and special trustee of the estate and the trust to convert the personal property belonging to Sekyiwa as a piggy bank from which he has drawn substantial funds for his own benefit,” she wrote.
Howard King, an attorney representing the estate, denied all allegations levied at Whalley in a statement.
“These legal claims are disappointing and detrimental to all beneficiaries of the trust,” King said. “We are confident the court will promptly conclude that Tom has always acted in the best interests of Amaru, the trust, and all beneficiaries.”
