Adidas Investor’s Fraud Claims Over Rapper Ye Fail, Company Says

The “dramatic and unfortunate end” of Adidas AG‘s partnership with the designer and rapper Kanye West and his Yeezy businesses doesn’t mean investors have a case for securities fraud, the company told the Ninth Circuit.

The lead investor “fails to plead any of the core elements of a securities fraud claim” over the company’s relationship with West, also known as Ye, Adidas said Monday in a brief. Adidas terminated the partnership in October 2022 after Ye made antisemitic and racist remarks and wore a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt to a fashion event, according to the lawsuit.

That investor, a ...