Jermaine Dupri’s Atlanta mansion was in foreclosure and set to be auctioned off on the courthouse steps last week, before the sale was canceled at the last minute.
Channel 2 Action News reports that SunTrust Bank started foreclosure on the Mount Paran Road mansion in northwest Atlanta over an original loan of more than $2.5 million. The law firm handling the foreclosure won’t say why the sale was stopped.
The house isn’t the only problem. Records Channel 2 obtained from the Georgia Department of Revenue show Jermaine Dupri, whose legal name is Jermaine Dupri Mauldin, owes the state $493,768.75 in back taxes for 2007.
He also owes on another home. Fayette County Tax Commissioner George Wingo sent Channel 2 documents showing $14,024.67 in unpaid property taxes, fees and penalties tied to a second property Dupri owns.
A contractor is waiting on his money too. Shane Cox of Design Logistics, who handled renovation and design work on the mansion, including hanging the art, has filed a lien against the property. He says Dupri still owes him $12,000. Cox called Dupri a nice guy and said he hopes Dupri will take care of the debt.
Channel 2 went to Dupri’s home and rang the intercom at the security gate for a comment but got no answer. Two phone numbers for his label, So So Def Records, were disconnected.
The money trouble has been building for a few years. Café Dupri, his Atlanta restaurant, closed a couple of years ago. It’s a long way from 2006, when Forbes ranked Dupri among hip hop’s top earners with $12 million in income.
He isn’t out of the game. Jermaine Dupri has produced hits for Usher and Mariah Carey, so royalties are still coming in. These days he’s promoting his website Global 14 and DJing around the country.
For now, the house is still his. Whether he can pay the state is another question.
