(EXCLUSIVE) Gladys Knight – Judge Refuses to Address Singer’s Allegations Son Tried To Blackmail Her Over Alleged Alzheimer Diagnosis

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight – Judge Refuses to Address Blackmail Allegations

theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports, Gladys Knight was shut down in the legal battle with her son in which she is demanding her name be removed from his Chicken & Waffle restaurants. A judge has thrown out the default that the singer was granted recently, along with telling them both he will not be addressing her blackmail allegations since they are irrelevant to the issues at hand.

Here’s the latest: On November 21st, the judge came back with his decision and sided with Glady’s son (Shanga Hankerson) and shut down Gladys’ attempt to move forward with her default. The order allows her son to continue on defending himself in the case.

In regards to the allegations that Shanga attempted to blackmail his mother with allegations of her being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s – which she denies – the judge says that he will not even address the situation due to it not having any bearing on the issues in the lawsuit.

The judge explains,

Although some of these actions are troubling, whether the attorney threatened Plaintiff and whether Plaintiff would have agreed to set aside default does not bear upon the issues currently before the Court at this time. As such, the Court will not address it further.

Shanga Hankerson

Here’s the backstory: Back in June, the Department of Revenue accused the singer’s son, Shanga Hankerson, of theft and tax evasion. Federal agents raided 3 “Gladys Knight Chicken and Waffles” locations in Georgia and shut down their operations.

The officials allege Shanga of stealing over $650,000 in sales taxes and withholding taxes owed to the state. The total with penalties and interest exceeds $1 million dollars.

Gladys has no role in the business and only allowed her son to use her name. Reportedly there are still 2 locations open in the ATL area. The singer sued her son and his companies Rival Group, Cascade Foods and Granite Foods, following the tax evasion allegations. She claimed to have sent a cease and desist in July, but her son has yet to remove her name from the restaurants.

Gladys Knight

Gladys allowed her son to use her name for over 10 years, but the deal recently expired and she wants nothing to do with the business. She filed the lawsuit demanding the judge order her name be removed from all the restaurants

Shanga responded, demanding her lawsuit be thrown out completely.

He explained,

Plaintiff’s claims are barred, in whole or in part, lack of mental capacity to rescind the license agreement granted to Defendants.

Shanga said his mother’s claims are barred due to her breach of contract and says her lawsuit is a violation of a state court order. He also said she has been paid for the use of her name on his restaurants and cannot void their deal due to payment.

Gladys son denied all the allegations of wrongdoing by his mother. The legendary singer responded and accused her son of attempting to blackmail her with her private medical records.

She explained she was granted her a default against Shanga, due to him not filing his response in time. However, her lawyer was contacted by her son’s attorney and allegedly threatened to reveal Gladys was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Gladys denied the allegations she had Alzheimer’s and demanded the default stay put, which would allow her to continue on by seeking a default judgement against her son.

She filed docs recently demanding the default she was granted – due to her son not filing his response by the deadline – not be stayed despite his pleas otherwise. Shanga pleaded for him to defend himself in the case and drop the default.

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