According to court documents, obtained exclusively by E! News, Tati and her husband, James Westbrook, are being sued by their former business partner Clark Swanson for breach of contract, gross negligence and fraudulent inducement to Tati’s vitamin line, Halo Beauty.
As the document allegedly reads, Swanson claims that he and the Westbrooks first each owned 50 percent of Halo Beauty, but was offered to “give them two-thirds of the business and, in exchange, the Westbrooks would commit to use Halo Beauty as Ms. Westbrook’s umbrella brand for all of her beauty launches—cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, all of Tati Westbrook's beauty products.”
Swanson agreed, and added that Tati allegedly boasted that no matter the product “she could still sell a s**t product to her loyal followers.” YouTube beauty celebs like Jeffree Star, James Charles and Manny Mua were all said to endorse the product, as Swanson was assured by Tati that they had all turned down a similar advertising opportunity with Halo Beauty’s competitor Sugar Bear Hair.
But, in 2019, that deal grew sour after James Charles shared a video with a ‘swipe up’ on his Instagram Story, endorsing Sugar Bear Hair in April 2019. Two months later in May, Westbrook shared the notorious “Bye Sister” video, accusing Charles of “trick[ing] a straight man into thinking he’s gay.” It was a very serious accusation, especially given that Charles had just turned 20 years old.
Interestingly, Tati Westbrook hasn’t posted anything on her YouTube channel or Instagram in four months. She has yet to publicly address the claims made by her ex-business partner Clark Swanson. Instead her lawyer Douglas Fuchs issued this statement, per E! News:
"Clark Swanson's lawsuit is meritless,” he said. “His absurd claim that Tati Westbrook granted him one-third of her name, image and likeness for all time in exchange for a modest initial capital contribution. Swanson's claim is not only baseless, it is offensive and defies common sense.”
"This is particularly true given that Swanson has received millions in profit distributions from Halo Beauty, almost exclusively due to the Westbrooks' efforts. Tati and James will vigorously defend this lawsuit and are confident that the truth will come out and they will prevail."
Whether any of what anyone in this group said is true, you can say one thing about the YouTube beauty community, it ain’t the YouTube beauty community without some tacky, dragged out drama.
Hero image: Gregg DeGuire
