50 Cent concert promoter chased for 50 grand

  • 2007-08-08
  • By Joel Alas

TALLINN - The Estonian promoter of the recent 50 Cent concert in Tallinn is being pursued by a U.S-based entertainment agency which claims he committed bank fraud and failed to pay for the rapper's first-class plane tickets home.
Jill Thacker, president of JBC Entertainment, told The Baltic Times she had filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department seeking to prosecute promoter Juri Zitin for his failure to pay nearly $50,000.
Thacker warned the incident, if unresolved, could deter other international artists from visiting the Baltics.
Well-known rapper 50 Cent and support act G-Unit performed to a crowd of several thousand people at Tallinn's Song Festival Grounds on July 29.

Thacker said the concert was almost canceled after the promoter, Zitin, fell out with the original German-based booking agency.
With only days to go before the concert and thousands of tickets sold, Zitin contacted Thacker and asked for assistance.
"He said 'Can you get me 50 Cent,' I said, 'Sure, if you'll fly him back to New York.' He agreed, and I went ahead and booked the tickets," Thacker said.
On July 27 Zitin faxed a copy of a bank transfer for $45,915.75 's the cost of flying 50 Cent and his entourage of ten from London to the U.S. on the exclusive Eos Airlines. He also faxed a signed copy of an invoice agreeing to pay the amount.

"This is the normal way these things are done in the entertainment business 's you pay for tickets by showing a wire transfer. You can't pay these kinds of costs with a credit card," Thacker explained.
However on July 30, the morning after the concert, Thacker realized something was amiss. Despite the transfer confirmation from SEB Eesti Uhispank, the money failed to arrive in her account.
On the following Wednesday, Zitin e-mailed Thacker to announce he would not be paying the money because his original contract with 50 Cent did not include an agreement to pay for airfares.

"I don't care what his contract with 50 Cent says, he signed an invoice to me saying he would pay the money, and he sent a wire transfer. I don't know what it's like in that part of the world, but sending a false wire transfer is bank fraud, which is a very serious offense," Thacker said.
She said a complaint had now been filed with the U.S. Justice Department, and that she intended to "pursue this at the highest levels" to ensure Zitin was prosecuted. She has also contacted the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn to seek assistance in dealing with Estonian authorities.

"I'm not going to stop. This guy was desperate. He didn't have 50 Cent and he had advertised that he did. People helped him, I issued the tickets.
"I'm going to let everybody in the industry know about this. They don't look at this area (the Baltics) too much. It will be very bad for the country, and it's not the country's fault."
Thacker said Zitin's failure to pay might have resulted from the reported $180,000 he lost on the concert. She said 50 Cent was paid for his performance.

The Baltic Times made several attempts to contact Zitin by phone and e-mail, but he failed to respond by press time.