Kanye West’s company owes the state of California $600,000 in unpaid taxes, according to government records seen by NBC News.
Over the last two years, the state has issued multiple tax liens – legal claims for unpaid debts – against Yeezy Apparel, NBC reported.
The latest notice was sent in September this year, but others date back to February, July 2021, and 2020.
Yeezy Apparel is a fashion design and merchandising business which started in 2017, according to public business records. It’s one of five Yeezy companies based in California which are managed by West.
Last year, Yeezy Apparel had to pay a $950,000 settlement to the Los Angeles district attorney, over a lawsuit alleging “unlawful business practices and false advertising by failing to ship items in a timely manner.”
The company is also recorded as being in “good” standing by both the California franchise tax board and secretary of state.
But tax-law experts told NBC that the tax notices indicate big problems at Yeezy Apparel.
“Multiple California tax liens, adding up to $600,000, that’s certainly a sign of either extreme incompetence or extreme cash problems,” said Edward McCaffery, a tax law professor at the University of Southern California.
“That is kind of an amber alert for the financial health of the enterprise.”
The California franchise tax board and secretary of state did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, sent outside normal US working hours.
Kanye West, who is now known as Ye, has faced massive financial losses in the wake of a string of controversies, including his frequent antisemitic comments.
Adidas, Balenciaga, and GAP were among the companies who cut ties with Ye as a result. Forbes then took him off their billionaires list, and the rapper-turned-businessman later said Adidas sued him for $275 million.
Ye has since announced a presidential campaign and appeared on the far-right InfoWars, where he told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones: “There’s a lot of things that I love about Hitler. A lot of things.”
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