Biggie’s Manager Wayne Barrow Wins Legal Battle Against Faith Evans Over Estate Payments

Wayne Barrow has won a legal battle against Faith Evans regarding proceeds from the sale of a stake in the Notorious B.I.G. music catalog and intellectual property assets, according to court documents cited by Rolling Stone and XXL. A Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled on August 7 in favor of Wayne Barrow, finding that Evans had no legal right to withhold payments owed to a trust established by Voletta Wallace, the late mother of the rapper born Christopher Wallace.

Delaware Court Ruling on Notorious B.I.G. LLC Distributions

According to Rolling Stone, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick sided with Barrow in the first of two lawsuits concerning the estate. Barrow serves as the sole trustee of Voletta’s trust and executor of her estate, following her death in February 2025 at age 78. The dispute centered on Notorious B.I.G. LLC, a company co-owned by Voletta and Evans that managed the late rapper’s intellectual property and catalog before entering into a 50-50 partnership with Primary Wave in March 2025. XXL reported that the Primary Wave deal is a reported $100 million deal.

Under the operating agreement for Notorious B.I.G. LLC, Voletta and Evans each transferred half of their rights to company distributions to Biggie’s children, Ty’anna Wallace and Christopher Jordan “CJ” Wallace. This left Voletta, Evans, Ty’anna, and CJ each entitled to a 25 percent share of company payouts, according to Rolling Stone. The judge’s ruling confirms that Barrow, representing Voletta’s trust, is entitled to her 25 percent share of distributions from the Primary Wave partnership. Court documents indicate that the trust’s interest in the LLC will eventually go to the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, where Barrow serves as a board member.

Family Disagreements and Trust Amendments

In her 16-page ruling, Chancellor McCormick noted that Voletta amended her trust weeks before her death to remove her grandson CJ—who is the son of Evans and Biggie—as a co-trustee, replacing him with Barrow, as reported by Rolling Stone and XXL. The judge wrote that Evans appeared angered by this decision and subsequently took the position that the LLC operating agreement barred the transfer of membership units to the trust, refusing to make the required distributions.

Opening her opinion, Chancellor McCormick quoted a lyric from Biggie’s 1997 song “Ten Crack Commandments” from the album Life After Death, noting that the rapper presciently cautioned to keep family and business completely separated, as reported by Rolling Stone. She added that because his mother and widow formed Notorious B.I.G. LLC to manage his intellectual property, the resulting litigation was perhaps inevitable.

Pending Legal Challenges and Legal Representation

While Barrow secured a victory in the Delaware Chancery Court, a separate lawsuit filed by CJ in Pennsylvania on February 20, 2026, challenges Barrow’s underlying authority as trustee and executor, according to Rolling Stone. That complaint alleges Barrow improperly influenced Voletta to appoint him shortly before her death. Lawyers for Barrow declined to comment on the Pennsylvania case because it remains in the early stages, though they asserted to Rolling Stone that the filing was an unsuccessful attempt to put the Delaware dispute on hold.

Wayne is feeling vindicated. We obtained a total victory in a dispute that never should have happened,

Jay W. Freiberg, lawyer for Wayne Barrow (via Rolling Stone and XXL)

Freiberg added that Barrow maintains decades-long ties with the family and that Voletta wanted him to steward the legacy of the Notorious B.I.G., according to Rolling Stone and XXL. Representatives and attorneys for Evans and CJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the ruling.