Usher Can Press Ahead With $700,000 Lawsuit Over Failed Atlanta Restaurant Loan

Usher has cleared the first legal hurdle in his dispute with Bryan-Michael Cox, with a Fulton County judge ruling that the singer’s claims over a missing $700,000 loan balance can move ahead.

In Monday’s May 11 decision, first obtained and reported by Billboard, Judge Craig L. Schwall Sr. rejected a bid from Cox and his business partners to throw out the case Usher filed in November. The ruling means the matter now heads into discovery, with the possibility of a trial still ahead.

Usher performs on stage at The O2 Arena on April 01, 2025 in London, England.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images For Usher

The case centers on Homage ATL, a restaurant concept developed in 2024 by Cox, whose credits with Usher and Mariah Carey earned him a place on Billboard’s top producers of the 21st century list, alongside songwriter Keith Thomas and Charles Hughes, who was previously involved in T.I.’s own troubled Atlanta restaurant. Usher says the group approached him as a potential full partner, but that he declined and instead agreed to lend $1.7 million toward the purchase of a $6 million building in Buckhead, one of Atlanta’s more affluent neighborhoods.

That real estate deal did not go through. According to the lawsuit, the group’s attorney, Alcide Honoré, later returned $1 million to Usher, leaving $700,000 unaccounted for. Usher’s filing says Honoré effectively acknowledged that the remaining funds had been spent elsewhere, and the singer is now pursuing breach of contract claims against Cox, Thomas, Hughes and Honoré over the balance.

Cox and Thomas had asked the court to dismiss them from the suit, arguing that Honoré alone handled the loan and that they were not involved in how the money moved. Schwall was not persuaded. In his order, he wrote,

“Construing the pleadings in plaintiff’s favor, those allegations are sufficient to survive dismissal at the pleading stage,”

adding that Usher had plausibly alleged the defendants “solicited, directed, benefited from, or retained the funds at issue, notwithstanding that the funds were routed through defendant Honoré’s attorney trust account.”

Hughes has not responded to the lawsuit. Honoré, meanwhile, filed a countersuit against Usher last year, claiming interference with his reputation. Schwall said Monday that the counterclaim “appears inartfully pled and may ultimately prove deficient as matter of law,” but stopped short of dismissing it outright.

After the hearing, attorney Leron Rogers, who represents Thomas through Fox Rothschild, told Billboard on Thursday (May 14) that the defense “respectfully disagree[d] with the court’s ruling on procedural grounds.” Rogers also said the judge made clear that Honoré is likely the key figure in explaining the money trail.

“Our client is aligned with the court’s primary question toward defendant Honoré concerning the location of Mr. Raymond’s money,”

Rogers said.

“We await attorney Honoré’s response.”

Lawyers for Usher and the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. When the lawsuit was first filed, Cox took to Instagram to insist he was only a “passive minority shareholder” in Homage ATL. “I was not a participant in that business transaction and have no involvement in the ongoing legal process,” he wrote. He added that his “27-year friendship” with Usher remained “fully intact.”