A$AP Rocky’s high-powered legal professional Joe Tacopina suffered a crushing authorized blow Thursday when a Los Angeles Superior Court choose denied his movement to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by the rapper’s former good friend, A$AP Relli.

Superior Court Judge Randolph Hammock rejected Tacopina’s anti-SLAPP movement, which might have shortly killed the case and compelled A$AP Relli to pay the protection’s legal professional charges.

The ruling retains alive explosive claims that Tacopina defamed Relli by calling him a “liar” and “gold digger” throughout media interviews.

The defamation case stems from a 2021 Hollywood capturing incident the place A$AP Rocky allegedly fired photographs at A$AP Relli. The former pals had been a part of the identical Hip-Hop collective earlier than their relationship exploded into violence.

“Those would be protected by the litigation privilege,” Judge Hammock stated throughout Thursday’s listening to in response to Court House News. “But the statements that Mr. Ephron is making were not made in that context. Is the word spin? This was spin — a lawyer spinning for his client.”

Tacopina, who has defended high-profile shoppers like Donald Trump, Meek Mill, Wendy Williams and Michael Jackson, had argued his inflammatory statements to numerous media retailers had been protected speech.

The Brooklyn-born legal professional informed the media that Relli’s capturing claims had been “an extortion attempt by a former associate” and accused him of fabricating the story in a “get-rich-quick scheme.”

“He’s a failed associate–ex–associate of Rocky’s and he’s jealous. He was trying to get money from Rocky. He wanted Rocky to support him. He made it clear. There were repeated attempts where he tried to ask for money in lieu of not causing problems for Rocky. That’s what he said. We have all this memorialized in text messages and otherwise, so it’s an extortion,” Joe Tacopina informed Rolling Stone.

The choose discovered these statements crossed the road from protected litigation privilege into public relations spin designed to break Relli’s popularity.

Relli’s lawsuit claims the defamatory statements resulted in dying threats on social media, public ridicule and “extreme emotional distress.”

The struggling music producer informed the courtroom he’s already invested $500,000 in authorized charges preventing each the defamation case and a separate civil assault lawsuit towards Rocky.

The authorized drama started after Rocky was acquitted of felony assault costs in February 2025 following a three-week felony trial. Despite the not-guilty verdict, Relli’s civil lawsuits proceed, with a jury trial tentatively scheduled for January 2026.

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