Tory Lanez is going through new authorized penalties after a federal choose dominated that he obstructed Megan Thee Stallion’s efforts to depose him in her defamation and cyberstalking lawsuit in opposition to YouTube character Milagro Gramz. Lanez, whose actual identify is Daystar Peterson, was held in contempt of court docket after refusing to reply fundamental, foundational questions throughout his third jailhouse deposition. As a outcome, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid ordered him to pay twenty thousand {dollars} to Megan’s authorized group “as a fine for his obstruction of Plaintiff’s multiple attempts to depose him.” Her ruling, filed Sunday, additionally sanctioned Peterson’s lawyer, Crystal Morgan.

The contempt ruling got here simply as jury choice started Monday in Megan’s lawsuit in opposition to Gramz, whose authorized identify is Milagro Cooper. According to the choose, Peterson’s habits at Friday’s deposition was brazenly defiant from the beginning. She wrote that he started the session by asking what would occur if he refused to reply questions, and after being warned he may very well be fined, he allegedly stated, “Whatever the fines are, I’ll pay them. I’m a millionaire. I don’t care.” Judge Reid added that at one level Peterson “stormed out of the room” and accused Megan’s lawyer of mendacity, telling him to “calm down.”

Peterson repeatedly refused to reply the core questions Megan’s authorized group wanted for trial. He declined to clarify “how he came to learn of or met” Gramz and wouldn’t say whether or not he ever communicated together with her by direct messages, texts or Instagram. Because of this obstruction, Judge Reid advisable that jurors be explicitly instructed that he was correctly questioned and refused to reply earlier than abruptly ending the deposition.

This will not be the primary time Peterson has been penalized for uncooperative habits. He was beforehand ordered to pay Megan’s authorized charges for appearing combative and pretending to not know fundamental details throughout an April deposition. That session was the primary time he had been questioned below oath since being accused of taking pictures Megan with a semi-automatic firearm in Los Angeles. Peterson is at present serving a ten-year sentence for that assault. Megan sought the newest deposition as a part of her case, claiming that Cooper unfold “vicious and hateful rumors” whereas appearing as Peterson’s “paid surrogate.”