A New York City-based attorney who megachurch pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes alleged sent him a “$6 million extortion letter” over claims he sexually assaulted former pastor Duane Youngblood decades ago when he was a teenager was arrested Wednesday for assault.
Attorney Tyrone Blackburn was formally charged with assault by the New York City Police Department on Wednesday morning, according to TMZ. The arrest came just a day after Blackburn submitted a formal request to the clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to withdraw as Youngblood’s defense attorney in an ongoing defamation lawsuit Jakes filed last November against Youngblood and 10 John Does.
It was unclear Thursday whether Blackburn’s request to withdraw from representing Youngblood in Jakes’ defamation lawsuit had anything to do with Wednesday’s arrest. Blackburn did not respond to a request for comment from The Christian Post.
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Blackburn’s arrest Wednesday stemmed from allegations made by a 66-year-old messenger who said he suffered a minor injury when he tried to serve Blackburn with a complaint related to a civil lawsuit against Joseph Antonio Cartagena, popularly known as rapper Fat Joe, on the night of May 12.
The messenger alleged that as he tried to serve the complaint on Blackburn, the attorney slammed his car into reverse and hit him on the leg.
Fat Joe’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, told TMZ they filed a lawsuit alleging defamation and extortion against Blackburn and Dixon in a bid to get ahead of the allegations after Blackburn sent a demand letter on behalf of Dixon requesting $3 million for allegedly co-writing music with his client.
Blackburn responded by filing a 157-page $20 million lawsuit against Fat Joe on behalf of Dixon on June 19.
In the June 19 lawsuit, Dixon alleges that Fat Joe engaged in “coercive labor exploitation, financial fraud, sexual manipulation, violent intimidation, and psychological coercion.”
The rapper has since denied the allegations in a statement posted to his social media Wednesday, and a motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed by attorneys for Fat Joe in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York on Monday.
“I’ve been tested the last few months — I’ve lost my big brother, my father, my mother and now I’m fighting against these disgusting lies,” Fat Joe wrote. “But please know I will not break and I will never back down. I’ve had individuals in my circle take my love and kindness for weakness, but how many times must we forgive them?”
In denying the claims made against him by Youngblood, Jakes alleged similar tactics highlighted by Fat Joe’s attorneys.
“I have reviewed the affidavits of Duane Youngblood and Richard Youngblood submitted in support of the motion to dismiss. The statements in these affidavits purport to describe situations where I harbored carnal desires for these men. These statements are knowingly and flagrantly false,” Jakes, who founded the 80,000-member Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, stated in an affidavit earlier this year.
“I am repulsed by these defamatory accusations and the $6 million extortion letter I received from Duane Youngblood’s attorney, Tyrone Blackburn.”
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