An accountant took advantage of Kenan Thompson’s glory days at Nickelodeon.
During an interview on “The Breakfast Club” podcast, the comedian recalls his experience with an accountant who went sour between 1999 and 2000, leading him to go broke and lose $1.5 million.
“I’ve been blessed to continue working, but I had a bad accountant, and it came to the light around ’99, around 2000, which was really bad timing ’cause that’s right when I left my consistent gig. So, then I went into being an adult actor for hire, and that is very hit and miss,” Thompson said.
He was introduced to the accountant by his mother, as the man had previously helped her with her taxes. The pair had given the accountant power of attorney, which would permit him to act on their behalf on a temporary or permanent basis, according to the American Bar.
“We gave that dude power of attorney when we shouldn’t have. I was a kid and my mom was trying to protect me,” Thompson mentioned. “He had helped her out of her and my dad’s tax situations. So, she thought she could trust him, but she could trust him with $30,000 to $50,000 issues, but when it’s a million dollars on the table, you never know what people gonna turn into. And apparently he turned into a demon.”
At the time, Thompson had planned to remain tucked away in Atlanta, GA, near his mother. However, the financial loss made him hungrier for success, leading him to head to Los Angeles, CA.
He recalls landing a few gigs, including on “Felicity” and “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” However, he was still struggling with money.
“I was still broke, like just money enough for the rent kind of thing. The accountant was dirty, and I ended up not letting that be the end all of what my life is gonna be,” he expressed.
Thompson says he has yet to retrieve the $1.5 million from the accountant. He was prompted to sue the accountant, however, after receiving a knock from Uncle Sam.
“I sued him for years and ended up winning, but I sued him because the IRS came after me, and they were like, ‘You haven’t paid your taxes all this time.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s what he was supposed to be doing. And he went and ran. Don’t y’all see like, I ain’t got the money?’” Thompson recalled. “So, I got my settlement and it’s on that person now, but as far as me getting that money back, I knew it as soon as it happened — I’m like, ‘I ain’t never gonna see that money. I might as well just get back and start from scratch and just forget about it. If it comes back, great.’ It has yet to, but I’ve been blessed in so many other ways, I’ll take those life lessons and just learn from ’em.”
