Music icon Usher Raymond has filed a lawsuit in Fulton County against longtime producer Bryan‑Michael Cox, entertainment professionals Keith Thomas and Charles Hughes, and attorney Alcide Honoré over a restaurant deal gone wrong.
Cox, known for working with Usher on chart‑toppers like “Burn” and “U Got It Bad,” and his associates approached Usher last year with a proposal to open a restaurant and lounge called Homage ATL at 3102 Piedmont Road in Buckhead, the former site of Ocean Prime, which closed in 2015.
According to WSB-TV, Usher says he did not wish to serve as an investor but agreed to loan the group $1.7 million, wiring that amount to a trust account in January. Months passed without the property being purchased, prompting Usher to request repayment over the summer.
He reports receiving $1 million in August, but he says the remaining $700,000 has still not been repaid. According to the lawsuit, Honoré admitted that returning the funds “was not that easy” because the money had been used for “other purposes.”
The lawsuit seeks $4.9 million in damages, $700,000 for each of the seven claims filed.
As of Tuesday, no counterclaims or responses have been entered by the defendants.
