Crooner/producer Ryan Leslie, who offered a $1 million reward for the return of his stolen laptop, is now being sued by the man who found it and never saw a red cent.
Leslie had his MacBook stolen when he was touring around Germany in mid-2010, so he posted a music video on YouTube.com to advertise the generous reward for anyone who retrieved it. After initially offering $2,000, he upped the reward to $1 million because of the amount of “intellectual property” (Cough: Nude Pics: Cough) stored on the computer.
Armin Augstein, a 52-year-old German man, said he came across the laptop in a park one month after Leslie reported it missing. Augstein handed it into police and has been trying to claim his reward ever since. He’s now suing Leslie for $1 million — plus interest.
Augstein filed suit in Manhattan Federal Court this weekend, accusing Leslie of ignoring his emails about the laptop.
“It’s unfortunate my client has to go to such lengths to recover the reward,” said Michael Fischman, Augstein’s American lawyer.
