Usher has won a court ruling allowing him to proceed with $700,000 legal claims against music producer Bryan-Michael Cox over a loan for a failed Atlanta restaurant.
A Monday (May 11) ruling in Fulton County court, first obtained and reported by Billboard, says Cox and his business partners cannot dismiss the lawsuit brought against them by the star (born Usher Raymond IV) this past November. This means the case will now move forward into evidence discovery and toward a possible trial.
Cox, whose work with Usher and other R&B artists like Mariah Carey earned him a spot on Billboard’s top producers of the 21st century list, was part of a team that developed plans for a restaurant called “Homage ATL” in 2024. Cox’s business partners in the project were songwriter Keith Thomas, who’s also credited on multiple Usher hits, including the chart-topper “Love In This Club,” and Charles Hughes, who was previously involved in T.I.’s own troubled Atlanta restaurant.
Usher alleges these men approached him in 2024 about investing in the restaurant as a full partner and that he declined, instead opting to lend them $1.7 million to help fund the purchase of a $6 million building in Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood. The real estate deal ultimately fell through, and Usher asked for his money back.
According to the lawsuit, the group’s attorney, Alcide Honoré, returned $1 million to Usher. But $700,000 is still missing — and the singer says Honoré effectively admitted that the funds had been improperly spent elsewhere. Now, Usher is leveling breach of contract claims against Cox, Thomas, Hughes and Honoré over the loan balance.
Cox and Thomas both argued that a judge should dismiss them from the case because Honoré was the sole person responsible for processing Usher’s loan, and they had no involvement in the movement of the funds. But Judge Craig L. Schwall Sr. denied the motion during a Monday hearing in Atlanta.
“Construing the pleadings in plaintiff’s favor, those allegations are sufficient to survive dismissal at the pleading stage,” wrote the judge in his order. “Plaintiff has plausibly alleged that the moving defendants solicited, directed, benefited from, or retained the funds at issue, notwithstanding that the funds were routed through defendant Honoré’s attorney trust account.”
Hughes has not responded to the lawsuit. Honoré, meanwhile, countersued Usher last year for interfering with his reputation. Judge Schwall ruled Monday that this counterclaim “appears inartfully pled and may ultimately prove deficient as matter of law,” but he declined Usher’s request to dismiss it outright.
A lawyer for Thomas, Leron Rogers of the firm Fox Rothschild, told Billboard on Thursday (May 14) that they “respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling on procedural grounds.” According to Rogers, Judge Schwall made clear during Monday’s hearing that Honoré will be primarily responsible for explaining where Usher’s $700,000 has gone.
“Our client is aligned with the court’s primary question toward defendant Honoré concerning the location of Mr. Raymond’s money,” said Rogers. “We await attorney Honoré’s response.”
Lawyers representing Usher and the other defendants did not immediately return requests for comment. When the case was first filed, Cox wrote on Instagram that he was only a “passive minority shareholder” in Homage ATL: “I was not a participant in that business transaction and have no involvement in the ongoing legal process,” he claimed. “While I’m unable to share more details right now, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: my 27-year friendship with @usher remains fully intact.”
