Fat Joe Says Lawyer Used AI to Write Legal Briefs In Extortion Lawsuit, Cited ‘Fictional’ Cases

Fat Joe is accusing lawyers for his former hypeman Terrance “T.A.” Dixon of sloppily using artificial intelligence to write legal briefs in their ongoing courtroom battle – including by citing “hallucinations” of legal cases that “simply don’t exist.”

Joe (Joseph Cartagena) sued Dixon earlier this year, claiming he was extorting him by making “wholly fabricated, grotesque, and scandalous allegations.” Dixon then sued back months later, leveling shocking accusations of underage sex against the hip hop legend.

But in a new filing Friday, Joe accuses Dixon’s lawyer Tyrone Blackburn of something altogether different: using an AI chatbot to do his work for him — and making numerous mistakes in the process.

“There are at least ten instances in the motion where defendants cite cases for inapposite propositions or quotes language found nowhere in the case, commonly referred to as ‘hallucinated’ case citations, which, in all likelihood, were the result of Blackburn’s irresponsible reliance on artificial intelligence generated content,” Joe’s lawyers write.

Since the AI boom began, lawyers across the country have gotten into trouble for using it in court. In one high-profile case earlier this year, a Wyoming federal judge punished two lawyers from personal injury firm Morgan & Morgan for citing AI-fabricated cases in a lawsuit against Walmart.

Blackburn has already faced similar censure. In June, a federal judge threatened sanctions after the lawyer filed a motion containing “non-existent quotations” and other AI-generated errors – and then did so again in a brief defending his conduct: “The court views Blackburn’s conduct as a clear ethical violation of the highest order.”

After he was fired by his client in that case, Blackburn apologized for the AI missteps and said in an August court filing that he had taken new training courses on AI and ethics: “I have done everything in my power to remediate the mistake, educate myself, and protect the integrity of my practice.”

But in Friday’s filing, Fat Joe’s lawyers say the same problem has cropped up in their case: “The motion is, unfortunately, just the latest example of Blackburn’s serial disregard of his ethical obligations,” they wrote. “In addition to disregarding Blackburn’s fictional authorities, the Court should impose harsh sanctions for this repeat conduct.”

Like many workers in 2025, lawyers are increasingly using AI to speed up their work, including researching cases to support their arguments. But AI models are known to frequently cite false facts (known as “hallucinations” in AI parlance) and lawyers have heightened ethics rules that require them to personally certify anything they file in court. In a report on AI ethics last year, the American Bar Association said that even unintentional mistakes would violate those requirements.

The problem has already repeatedly cropped up in music cases. In 2023, convicted ex-Fugees rapper Pras Michel accused his lawyer of botching his criminal trial partly because he relied on AI to help craft his closing arguments. And in May, an attorney from the prestigious firm Latham & Watkins apologized after an AI model created a fake footnote for a real source – a misstep that, ironically, came in a brief filed on behalf of AI firm Anthropic in its battle with music publishers.

Punishment for an AI mishap would be the latest problem to befall Blackburn in the case, in which he is personally named as a defendant for his alleged role in threatening Fat Joe with the allegations. In June, Blackburn was arrested for allegedly hitting Fat Joe’s process server with his car “in a failed attempt to avoid being served” with the lawsuit. He did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.