Black Sherif Arrested
Ghanaian musician Black Sherif has been arrested for allegedly breaching a contract.
The ‘Kwaku the Traveller’ hitmaker was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport(KIA) on Wednesday, July 19, in the evening and sent to the police headquarters in Accra.
A statement released by the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Cruise People Limited, Daniel Vanderpuye, on July 20, 2023, said the reigning Vodafone Ghana Music Award king was contracted to perform at the second edition of their musical cruise onboard a cruise ship, themed Afro Cruise Jam, on August 19, 2023, in Greece.
The company disclosed that Black Sherif charged a total amount of US$40,000 for the show, and he received half the payment upfront.
The two parties agreed that the remaining US$20,000 balance would be paid after the event.
“We proceeded to pay the initial deposit via a bank transfer to his London account as agreed, and the artiste acknowledged receipt of payment. Following a series of email correspondences between Cruise People Ltd. and artiste, we reiterated to him that we needed the video recording of him confirming his performance on the cruise ship on the dates agreed upon and went further to notify him that we had arranged a media engagement with Multimedia Group on Friday, May 19, 2023, at 3 pm for which the said video clip announcing his performance and availability for the event will be broadcasted to elicit enhanced marketability of the event”.
“He unequivocally represented to us that the video clip will be ready even before the broadcast date duly communicated to him and hence we went ahead and paid Multimedia for the outside media broadcast”.
“Given the firm assurances from him and his outfit that the video clip will be ready and available for the media broadcast, we went further to make deposits and secured cabins on the cruise ship and other incidental arrangements, in anticipation of enhanced interests and patronage of purchase of cruise tickets, that the media broadcast shall generate”.
“Regrettably, he failed, refused and/or neglected to make the video clip available to us to be broadcasted on the May 19, 2023, at 3 pm, the time scheduled. The media encounter with Multimedia Group was held without the input of the video clip from him announcing his performance at the event, contrary to earlier agreement between us”, excerpts of the statement from the company read.
“As a result of his failure to confirm his participation, the cabins on the cruise ship which were paid for and reserved at a discounted price had to be cancelled and deposits lost since the expected interests and patronage of the event could not be guaranteed”.
“He deliberately failed to perform his part of the agreement despite several reminders sent to his agents”.
Consequently, the company reported the case to the police.
Black Sherif, born Mohammed Ismail Sharif, has been in New York performing shows on different stages for fans in the past months.
He was busted when he was returning from one of his trips.
Daniel Vanderpuye in the statement said they will proceed to court for redress and seek relief.
“At this point, we had no option than to report his fraudulent actions to the police and proceed to court for redress and seek relief”.