Earlier this week, people were shocked to learn that Russell Simmons’ former business partner Rasheed Young has accused Simmons and his brother Rev Run of stealing millions of dollars from their footwear venture, Pastry Shoes. In a recent interview with TMZ, Simmons responds to the accusations.

Simmons refuted any of the claims that he or his brother stole Young’s shares in their company. Simmons also added, that Young is a disgruntled former employee, and revealed that he personally had to step into to prevent Young from losing his job on multiple occasions:

“[Young]’s a nice enough guy, he worked for me,” Simmons said. “I fought to keep his job a numbers of time, he didn’t have a job and I went back to our partners and kept him working. I’m sorry he’s disgruntled, but that’s what happens. Anybody can say anything in this day and time and if a celebrity’s name is attached to it, people like to sometimes believe dirt, and so it spreads…the story, it’s not true.”

Check out the video below: