The Tory Lanez spokesman, whose legal non-profit represents Lanez in his criminal appeal, was “utterly disrespectful” and allegedly rolled a “marijuana cigarette” during his recent deposition in Megan Thee Stallion’s defamation lawsuit against YouTube blogger Milagro Gramz, a new court filing claims.
Megan’s lawyers are now asking that the rep, Ceasar McDowell, face sanctions for his “masterclass in bad faith,” the filing obtained by Rolling Stone states. The lawyers want McDowell to sit for a second, court-supervised deposition and cover all the costs himself. The same lawyers recently won sanctions against Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, for his allegedly “disruptive” deposition in the same case.
“Mr. McDowell’s misconduct went far beyond feigned forgetfulness. On camera and under oath, Mr. McDowell rolled a cigarette filled with a substance resembling marijuana during questioning, then smoked it during a break,” the new filing states. “He demanded painkillers, threatened to urinate in the deposition room, called plaintiff’s counsel a ‘b***h,’ made inappropriate comments about her appearance, and walked out mid-questioning.”
McDowell is not a lawyer himself, but the organization he runs, Unite the People, is representing Peterson as he appeals his 2022 felony conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in both feet on a Los Angeles street in 2020. Peterson was sentenced to 10 years in prison and is now incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
On the homepage for Unite the People’s website, McDowell appears in a photo standing with Peterson’s lawyers. The accompanying statement reads, “Tory Lanez hires Unite the People Inc. to represent him on appeal.” McDowell is the organization’s CEO.
When asked during his July 25 deposition if Unite the People focuses on helping prisoners with appeals, he replied, “I don’t remember,” according to a transcript obtained by Rolling Stone. Asked if he ever used any other names, he replied, “I can’t remember them,” and then said of the examination, “This ain’t going to go good. You know that, right?”
McDowell went on to respond, “I don’t remember” more than 350 times, “I don’t know” about 170 times, and “I don’t recall” about 43 times, totaling more than “550 evasive non-answers that made meaningful testimony impossible,” Megan’s new motion for sanctions claims. “Mr. McDowell’s conduct during his deposition was utterly disrespectful, uncivil, and antagonistic – deserving this court’s condemnation,” the Thursday filing argues.
On Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid ordered that McDowell sit for a second deposition no later than Sept. 22. She said the follow-up exame will “occur under my supervision.” She also set a hearing for next week to determine if McDowell should face sanctions.
McDowell did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Megan’s lawyers said in their filing that they need McDowell’s testimony because they believe Peterson “enlisted” McDowell to spread allegedly defamatory statements about Megan in the media. In January, Megan won a five-year civil harassment restraining order barring Peterson from making any statements about her. She has alleged Peterson uses “intermediaries,” including McDowell and Gramz, whose legal name is Milagro Cooper, to spread false information.
“Ms. Pete sought the deposition to prove that UTP and Mr. McDowell use their relationship to funnel false information from the shooter, Daystar Peterson, through defendant [Cooper] into the public domain,” the filing asking for the new sanctions reads. “Mr. McDowell’s obstruction is part of a coordinated effort by key third parties to prevent the court and jury from learning the truth about their defamation campaign.”
The civil trial for Megan’s defamation and cyberstalking lawsuit against Cooper is set to begin in mid-November in Florida. Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete, first sued Cooper last October, claiming the YouTuber was part of a “coordinated campaign” to smear her reputation and harass her as retaliation for her testimony against Peterson at trial. Pete claims Cooper has repeatedly attacked her with allegations that she suffers from alcoholism and requires a guardian. Pete alleges Cooper also promoted a deepfake pornographic video of her.
Cooper denies conspiring with Peterson and tried to get the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that she was shielded as a journalist. The judge ruled against Cooper, allowing Pete’s lawsuit to proceed. The judge said Pete had made a “compelling case” that Cooper acted with a “reckless disregard for the truth.”
Cooper’s alleged ties to Peterson were mentioned in Pete’s petition for her restraining order against Peterson. Pete claimed Peterson used Cooper as a “puppet and mouthpiece,” pointing to social media posts from October in which Cooper highlighted Peterson’s false claim that the gun used in the July 2020 assault had “gone missing.” The gun remains in police custody.
At the restraining order hearing in January, Pete gave emotional testimony that touched on her claims about Cooper without naming her directly. “I haven’t been at peace since I been shot, and I’m just trying to be un-harassed, not only by the person who shot me, but by the people he’s been paying to continue to harass me,” Pete testified under oath. “I probably won’t ever have my own peace about the situation, but I just really want the harassment from the person who shot me to stop.”