Philipp Plein defrauded of $900,000

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Feb 12, 2019

Designer Philipp Plein has fallen victim to a fashion week scam involving Kanye West. 

 
According to reports, a former friend of West allegedly contacted the designer to negotiate a deal to have West perform at Plein’s New York Fashion Week event on Monday. 
 
The deal was finalized at roughly $1 million, with a rep for Plein confirming the company fell for the scam and signed a deal. 

West’s name was forged on a document that also asked Plein to wire $900,000 to an account, which was emptied immediately upon receipt. 
 
“We regret to confirm that Kanye West will not be performing at our fashion show this Monday February 11th. We were beyond excited to work with him but unfortunately an individual pretended to be part of his management team and acted without Kanye’s knowledge, capitalizing on a former friendship with him,” said a statement from the company of Philipp Plein. 
 
“Unfortunately, we too were affected by this misrepresentation. We have recently been in contact with Kanye’s official team and are releasing this statement in unison to clarify that there has not been any misconduct on any of our parts. We hope to collaborate with Kanye West in the future and we look forward to our 20th Anniversary show this Monday evening.”
 
Kanye West did not perform at the show on Monday. 
 
Plein is known for hosting extravagant shows with past big-time musical performers including Snoop Dogg, Fergie, and Future.