It's one thing to let a phoney investor manipulate your your finances, but when it starts so close to home, it's all the more troubling. Ne-Yo's ex manager Kevin Foster is facing 16 charges in Federal Court including a scheme to defraud both Brian McKnight and the singer himself. The scheme was presented to both men as an investment opportunity, the product being a a sports drink called OXYwater.

Billboard reports that Ne-Yo had poured in $2 million of his own expenses into the project only to see it wither away. Foster then presented a similar fact sheet to Brian McKnight "to keep the business solvent." Prosecutors claim that many if not all of the elaborate details were not disclosed to both parties. Interestingly, enough was said to convince both men to participate in some capacity. Part of Foster's ploy was to withhold earnings he was set to receive by commission. Both men likely signed on thinking they were entering a partnership, incidentally Foster had marked himself the sole controller of the company and its assets. Ne-Yo is set to release his new album Good Man on June 8, so not everything in his world has gone to dust. He certainly plays the "Good Man" role more often than not, and in this case it's hard to root against him.