Ryan Leslie Forced To Pay Million Dollar Reward For Stolen Laptop

Its a million dollar lesson rapper Ryan Leslie will never forget. He left Federal Court in New York after getting slapped with an expensive verdict.

“Rap Weasel Must Pay One Million For Lost Laptop" screamed the front page headline of The New York Post.

Back in 2010, rapper and music executive Leslie lost his laptop that contained music for an upcoming album.  It happened during a tour of Germany.  He went on YouTube looking to get it back and offered a reward of $20,000. Soon, the reward was increased to $1 million.

Then, 54-year-old Armin Augstein of Cologne, Germany, said he found Leslie’s laptop while walking his dog and turned it over to police expecting that million dollar reward.

Augstein's lawyer, Michael S. Fishman said, "Either Mr. Leslie pays a million dollars or pays something, or he explains the reason he refused to pay."

But Leslie was singing a different tune.  He wouldn't pay up, claiming that some information on the hard drive was missing. He talked about it recently on a radio show.

Leslie said, “We did find it but the intellectual property that I did put the reward up for was not actually contained on the property that was returned."

So Augstein sued, and on Wednesday a Federal jury in New York awarded him $1 million—the original reward.

Leslie's lawyer, David DeStefano spoke to INSIDE EDITION and said, "He is definitely disappointed. He still never received his property. Now, he still doesn't have his property back and there is a judgement against him."

Leslie seemed to take the bad news in stride.  He tweeted, “'Ain't no way to get around ups & downs.' Jury of my peers rules for the plaintiff.”