Latasha Kebe (Tasha K): Verdict, Bankruptcy, and Contempt

The Tasha K and Cardi B lawsuit ended in a 2022 federal jury verdict finding YouTuber Latasha Kebe liable for defaming the rapper across dozens of videos, with damages and fees totaling roughly $4 million. The dispute did not end there. Kebe filed for bankruptcy, the court ruled most of the judgment could not be discharged, and enforcement fights over hidden assets and a nondisparagement clause are still active in federal court in mid-2026.

What Cardi B Sued Over

Cardi B, whose legal name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, filed suit on March 21, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Kebe and her company, Kebe Studios LLC. The case, Almanzar v. Kebe (Case No. 1:19-cv-01301), was assigned to Judge William M. Ray II.¹ The complaint alleged defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, describing a “malicious campaign” of false statements on YouTube and social media.²

Cardi B’s attorneys identified more than 30 videos in which Kebe claimed the rapper had worked as a prostitute, used cocaine and other hard drugs, contracted herpes, cheated on her husband, and performed sex acts on stage.³⁴ Kebe presented the claims as fact and frequently cited supposed “receipts.” Cardi B’s lawyers said they had asked for the videos to be taken down repeatedly before suing.²

Kebe filed counterclaims for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The judge granted Cardi B’s motion for summary judgment on those counterclaims before trial.⁵

The 2022 Verdict and Damages

The case went to trial in January 2022. Kebe’s defense argued that Cardi B, as a public figure, had failed to prove “actual malice” and that the trial judge had improperly excluded character evidence about the rapper.⁴ On the herpes claim, Kebe testified she had meant “cold sores,” pointing to old photos and social media posts she said supported that belief.⁶

The jury was not convinced. Kebe acknowledged on the stand that she was not a journalist, that her goal was to entertain viewers and drive monetization, and that she knew some of the rumors she circulated were untrue.³ She also admitted she had continued profiting from the videos after receiving multiple cease-and-desist letters.⁵ After a few hours of deliberation, the jury found Kebe liable on all three counts.

The damages awarded were:

$1,000,000 in general damages
$1,500,000 in punitive damages
$1,338,753.47 in litigation expenses
$25,000 in medical expenses, reduced by agreement from the jury’s original $250,000 figure⁵

The court issued a post-trial injunction ordering Kebe to remove the defamatory videos and social media posts and barring her from republishing the statements.⁵

The Appeal

Kebe took the verdict to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. An initial appeal in mid-2022 was withdrawn due to procedural errors, and a second appeal followed later that year.⁴⁷⁸

Bankruptcy and the Repayment Plan

After Cardi B began garnishing her income, Kebe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2023 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case No. 23-14082).⁹ Kebe reported $58,595 in assets and a negative net worth of roughly $5 million.¹⁰

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Scott M. Grossman ruled in October 2023 that $3.4 million of the judgment was “excepted from discharge,” meaning it could not be wiped out in bankruptcy because the debt arose from “willful and malicious injury.”²¹¹¹²

The plan also includes a nondisparagement clause that bars Kebe from making “derogatory, disparaging, or defamatory” statements about Cardi B or her family.¹¹ That clause is now the center of ongoing enforcement fights.

Contempt and Current Enforcement

In April 2026, Cardi B moved for sanctions in bankruptcy court, alleging Kebe had committed “at least 25” violations of the nondisparagement agreement and had received three formal notices. The motion sought an order stopping further disparagement, reimbursement of attorneys’ fees, and monetary penalties, and warned that Cardi B would seek to convert the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation if violations continued.⁹

In May 2026, Judge Grossman found Kebe in civil contempt for violating the nondisparagement clause through social media posts and radio show comments about Cardi B’s husband Offset and NFL player Stefon Diggs. The court ordered Kebe to remove the offending content and awarded attorneys’ fees to Cardi B’s legal team covering 14 months of monitoring and enforcement. Cardi B is seeking $110,115 to cover those fees, and Kebe was given until mid-June 2026 to respond before the judge rules on the amount.¹³ In the same proceedings, the court sanctioned Kebe’s attorney, Chad Van Horn, for submitting false legal citations in violation of Bankruptcy Rule 9011. Van Horn acknowledged the errors and apologized to the court.¹⁴

Cardi B’s attorney, Jim Moon, has cast the enforcement actions as a contract dispute rather than a free speech issue. “Even your free speech rights … you can waive that in an agreement,” Moon told reporters. “You can contract away from whatever rights you might otherwise have, and that’s exactly what she did.”¹⁵

The Hidden-Assets Suit Against Kebe’s Husband

In December 2024, Cardi B filed documents in the bankruptcy court alleging Kebe had been shifting assets and income into the name of her husband, Cheickna Kebe, and his business to shield them from collection.¹⁰ Cardi B’s team said it had uncovered offshore accounts linked to Kebe in the Cook Islands, Nevis, and the country of Georgia, and pointed to social media posts featuring designer clothing and luxury goods as inconsistent with her reported financial condition. The filings also alleged the couple had moved into a $7,000-per-month luxury apartment.¹⁶

In May 2026, Cardi B filed a separate federal civil suit directly against Cheickna Kebe. According to reporting on the lawsuit, he formed a company called Yelen Entertainment LLC in May 2022, which allegedly took over the “Unwine with Tasha K” social media accounts and received redirected earnings from Kebe Studios. A Georgia property was also transferred from Tasha K to her husband in March 2022 for a stated price of one dollar. The suit seeks to void those transfers and place the assets in a trust to satisfy the original judgment. In court filings, Cheickna Kebe reportedly acknowledged that the property transfer was intended to help his wife “avoid garnishment.”¹⁷

Why the Case Matters

Because Cardi B is a public figure, she had to satisfy the “actual malice” standard from New York Times v. Sullivan, showing that Kebe made false statements with knowledge of their falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Kebe’s own trial admissions that she knew some claims were untrue and published them anyway for engagement and profit made that finding straightforward.³

Commentators have described the verdict as a warning for content creators who blend gossip with news, suggesting the low barriers to entry on platforms like YouTube do not insulate creators from legal consequences when they knowingly spread false claims for profit.³ University of Florida Associate Professor Jasmine McNealy, writing in the Missouri Law Review, argued that courts should account for “new cultures of verification” on gossip platforms, where audiences demand “receipts” as evidence, while maintaining that the actual malice standard remains sound.¹⁸ Legal observers have called the contempt proceedings a developing test case for how courts handle speech restrictions embedded in a debtor’s reorganization plan.¹⁴

As of mid-2026, Kebe’s YouTube channel remains active with more than 1.3 million subscribers, while the bankruptcy plan, the nondisparagement clause, and the lawsuit against her husband continue to move through federal court.

1
CourtListener. Almanzar v. Kebe
2
Billboard. YouTuber Who Defamed Cardi B Must Pay in Bankruptcy
3
NBC News. Cardi B Wins YouTube Defamation Case
4
Billboard. Cardi B Defamation Verdict Tasha K Filing to Overturn
5
Romano Law. Cardi B Wins Over $4 Million in Defamation Lawsuit
6
Vibe. Tasha K Seeks New Trial Against Cardi B
7
BuzzFeed News. Cardi B Tasha K Defamation Lawsuit
8
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Almanzar v. Kebe, No. 22-12512
9
Bloomberg Law. Cardi B Seeks Sanctions Against Video Blogger Who Defamed Her
10
The Root. Is Tasha K Stashing Money to Avoid Paying Cardi B
11
Rolling Stone. Cardi B Million Dollar Repayment Plan for Bankrupt Tasha K
12
BET. Tasha K Launches GoFundMe to Help Pay Off Millions Owed to Cardi B
13
Billboard. Cardi B Tasha K Pay Offset Stefon Diggs Posts
14
Daily Business Review. Cardi B Tasha K Fight Returns to South Florida Bankruptcy Court
15
Meland Budwick. Cardi B Tasha K Fight Returns to South Florida Bankruptcy Court
16
Hot 97. Cardi B Claims Tasha K Is Hiding Money Offshore in New Court Filing
17
Complex. Cardi B Sues Tasha K Husband for Hiding Assets
18
University of Florida. All the Rumors Are True: Verification, Actual Malice, and Celebrity Gossip