Sorry if that has already been posted...I didn't see it anywhere...just thought it was kind of interetsing.

Ruben was ...literally

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20060616/115045158000.html

"American Idol winner Ruben Studdard has been awarded $2 million in his lawsuit against his ex-manager for misappropriating the singer's money and credit cards.

Studdard, 26, of Birmingham, won the television talent show in 2003 and filed suit last year against ex-manager Ronald W. Edwards and Edwards' promotions company, Sez Inc.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell on Thursday awarded Studdard $500,000 for his actual losses and another $1.5 million in punitive damages, The Birmingham News reported Thursday on its Web site.

Vowell dismissed Edwards' promotions company from the suit because it was bankrupt and had no assets. Edwards filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 17, 2005.

The suit claimed Edwards misused more than $246,000 of the singer's money.

According to the judge's ruling, Edwards took money from Studdard's checking and other bank accounts, improperly used his credit cards and even used Studdard's money to repay a $10,000 bank loan.

Studdard has sold more than 2.2 million records, but the damage to his credit because of the fraud made it hard to obtain financing to buy a home, Vowell's order said."

That's really depressing.

Firstly, what kind of house was he looking to buy? Certainly, if he weren't blowing all his money on cars and hookers, he should have been able to afford a nice house in a good neighborhood without a third-party. He must have wanted to go BIG.

Hahaha....big. He's fat. haha.

Anyway, his money, can do what he wants with it. But how in the world did he get mixed up with such a shady manager? Clive is one evil mutha' for tossing him to the wolves.

I agree Grima. How sad is it when you sell that many records and have nothing to show for it?

Ruben winning that season has to be one of the biggest embarrassments to the AI franchise. Fantasia of course being the biggest. How in the hell did either of them win?

In about 15 years VH1 will do another one of their one hit wonder shows and I'm guessing they will be on the list. Oh wait, nevermind you actually have to have a hit to be on that list.

By the way Allison, what does your signature mean? Am I reading it wrong, I can't make any sense out of it? Just curious, not slamming. :chickenlittle

Good for him! Hopefully he can turn himself around. Get a decent manager and maybe salvage some sort of a career.

Good for Ruben. Now he can buy $2M turkey sammiches.

I think he is still working on his third album. He collaborated with a couple of big name artists, Ne-Yo being one of them.

Aw, poor Reubs...

The whole story kind of has a MC Hammer flava to it.

Reuben was totally

Meanwhile, Gayken obviously is having no money problems, what with the makeovers and the surgeries and the Thaihitian pool boys and whatnot.

&;lt;---Would cut a bitch for stealing her money.

Okay, am I the only person who thought Ruben deserved to win? I fucking love that guy. Seriously.

Ruben was ayight for me.

Seriously, though, I actually enjoyed many of his performances. I was rooting for Kimberly Locke for most of the season (not to be confused with Kimberly Caldwell... I fucking hate that bitch), but when it came down to Gayken and Ruben, no contest.

Hmmm...obligatory fat joke...$2 million=2 million Double Stacks at Wendy's?

( I feel so dirty.)

lol, it's the most money he's made in his whole (yawn) career. Might as well salvage something from the whole debacle.

I still respect him more than mantasia though, that goes without saying.

Aww, I liked Ruben. Haven't heard a voice like that since early Luther Vandross. I was really dissappointed in "Sorry for 2004". I think he might would still be selling records if he'd done Lutheresque ballad type stuff.

But good for him!

gotcha, it makes sense to me now!

I'm still shocked, from reading in that article, that Ruben sold 2.2 million records. How and when the hell did that happen?

Rube's been embroiled in lawsuits since AI when he wore those 205 jerseys and diverted the payments to his brother via a Canadian bank, and blah blah blah, when he was caught, he was all like, "I didn't know I couldn't do that in the USA."

Then he sued like his uncle or his godfather, or something. whatever.

The music business is probably quite complex and out of Rube's mental capacity reach. He's been scamming and been scammed since the begining.

I agree, best use of the money would be to salvage his career. which should be easy if he's selling quite well. I'm not a fan of his sound, nor do I hate him, I wish him all the best.

I'm neither fan, nor foe of Ruben either, I'm just shocked that he sold that many CD's. I thought he fell off the radar shortly after he won the title of American Idol. I have never heard any song, other than the finale' song he sang, something about flying without wings. I thought his 15 minutes was up 15 minutes after Ryan announced that he won. Guess I lead a sheltered life.

who is he?

That could explain why he is so unknown....

What the hell?? He has a second album out and a third on the way is more like it? lol

I highly doubt he'll even see the money, sounds like it'll be like squeezing blood out of a turnip. The manager filed for bankruptcy a year ago ... sounds like a pretty meaningless "win" JMHO

The movie Salina comes to mind. Poor Ruben. I really loved him and if he had been given half a chance he could have been somebody. The songs he put out were horrible, even still he sold over 2 million records.

It doesn't matter how big a house he wanted, it's his money and he should be able to do what he wants with it. Even if he just wanted a normal size house, most people do get a mortgage of some sort. Screwed up credit is a bitch, especially when he didn't do it himself.

Guess who's going to see him tonight! :mink

Ah, a free concert only five minutes away from home. It's glorious.

In Ruben news ...

Apparently he likes Flavor of Love-esque ladies.

http://concreteloop.com/gossip/2006/05/candids-ruben-studdard-on-miami-beach