Kehinde Wiley, the artist commissioned to paint Barack Obama’s official presidential portrait, is facing a landlord’s lawsuit accusing him of remaining in a luxury New York City apartment after his lease expired, as he also contests multiple sexual assault allegations.
Wiley, 49, was expected to vacate the roughly $18,000-a-month Greenwich Village residence by September 30, according to a complaint filed November 6 and obtained by the Daily Mail.
The landlord alleges that Wiley, whose artwork has fetched as much as $850,000 at auction, “failed to vacate” the property and continues to live in and occupy the apartment without authorization.
The lawsuit seeks $36,000 in rent for the period Wiley allegedly remained in the home after the lease ended.
The dispute adds to the legal troubles surrounding Wiley, who has denied sexual assault allegations made by five people—four men and one woman.
One of the accusers, artist Ogechi Chieke, filed a lawsuit under New York State’s Gender Motivated Violence Act. That case remains active, according to court records, and Wiley has denied the allegations in court filings.
The Daily Mail said it was unable to reach Wiley for comment. His lawyers and studio representatives also did not respond to follow-up requests.
According to the complaint, Wiley signed the original lease on September 28, 2023, for a tenancy running from October 1 of that year through September 20, 2024. The Los Angeles native later extended the agreement, allowing him to remain in the Manhattan property until September 30, 2026.
Wiley, 49, was expected to leave the approximately $18,000-a-month Greenwich Village home by September 30, according to a November 6 complaint
Wiley painted Barack Obama’s official presidential portrait in 2017
Barack and Michelle Obama pose with their official portraits in 2018, with Wiley’s work shown on the left
The lease required Wiley to leave the apartment when the term ended and return it “clean and in good condition,” the complaint states.
A listing describes the three-story, 3,800-square-foot West 11th Street residence as a property that “simply ‘has it all’ in every sense of the word.”
The address is in one of Lower Manhattan’s most sought-after neighborhoods. Nearby residents reportedly include actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Chipotle founder Steve Ellis and SoftBank chief executive Marcelo Claure.
Set within the lower section of a five-story townhouse, the “grand home” features four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and two powder rooms, according to the listing. It also includes an elevator and two private outdoor areas.
The Daily Mail reported visiting Wiley’s residence twice.
Fresh flowers were visible through the second-floor windows of the extensively renovated red-brick townhouse.
Wiley did not open the door during either visit. A household employee leaving the property said Wiley was “upstate” and could not say when he would return.
The employee said Wiley intended to move but had not provided a schedule for leaving the apartment.
The landlord is seeking $36,000 from Wiley for the period he allegedly remained in the apartment after the lease expired
The lawsuit claims Wiley will continue accumulating $18,000 in unpaid rent for each month he remains in the property
Wiley’s landlord accuses him of being “unjustly enriched” by living in the apartment rent-free and without permission after the lease ended. The complaint says another $18,000 charge will accrue for every additional month he stays.
Wiley, who has described himself as gay while saying he has “occasionally drifted” toward women, has faced assault allegations from five people in recent years.
In May 2024, British-Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko alleged on social media that Wiley sexually assaulted him three years earlier. Awuah-Darko said Wiley groped him during a dinner in Accra before forcing himself on him during an encounter that began consensually but became “severe and violent.”
Wiley rejected the allegation on Instagram, saying the encounter was consensual and “in no way coercive or abusive.” He described the accusation as “an affront to all victims of sexual abuse.”
“I have no idea why he has decided to target me in this way—particularly when there is a litany of evidence showing his claims are false—but I hope he gets the help he needs for whatever he is going through,” Wiley wrote.
The lawsuit says Wiley signed his original lease on September 28, 2023, for a tenancy beginning October 1 and ending September 20, 2024
The landlord alleges Wiley was “unjustly enriched” by remaining in the apartment rent-free after his lease expired
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In an Instagram post later deleted, Awuah-Darko said in 2024 that he was moving to the Netherlands to pursue assisted suicide because of what he called his “entirely unbearable” bipolar disorder.
He did not identify the allegations against Wiley as a reason for that decision.
Social media posts indicated that Awuah-Darko was still alive as of November 10, although he continues to pursue legal euthanasia, a process that can require extensive approvals.
Three other men later made allegations against Wiley.
Activist Derrick Ingram accused Wiley of raping him during their relationship in 2021. Filmmaker Nathaniel Lloyd Richards alleged that Wiley groped him at a sushi restaurant in 2019.
Historian Terrell Armistead said Wiley performed oral sex on him without consent while he was asleep at the artist’s home in 2010.
Wiley denied each allegation. He said his encounter with Ingram was consensual and that he had never met Armistead. His attorney, Jennifer Barrett, characterized one encounter as consensual and denied any misconduct.
No criminal charges against Wiley have been reported.
Activist Derrick Ingram and British-Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko have both alleged that Wiley sexually assaulted them
Artist Ogechi Chieke sued Wiley under New York State’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, alleging that he sexually assaulted her after a 2007 art show
Chieke, the fifth accuser, sued Wiley last year under New York State’s Gender Motivated Violence Act. She alleges that he sexually assaulted her after an art exhibition in 2007.
According to her complaint, Wiley pressed his body against Chieke during a dinner after the show and “proceeded to grab Ms. Chieke’s buttocks with both hands.”
The complaint further alleges that Wiley “then forcibly grabbed her vagina”—causing severe pain—and whispered that he “would lick that p***y so clean.”
Chieke said the incident left her so traumatized that she stopped working as an artist, according to the filing.
Wiley, who became a single father last spring through a surrogate and an anonymous egg donor, denied the allegations and described the lawsuit as a shakedown.
“There is no truth to Ms. Chieke’s allegations,” he told The Independent. “I’ve never met her, nor do I know her.”
Wiley was photographed beside Chieke at the event in question. While acknowledging the photograph in a statement last year, he continued to deny her account and called the lawsuit “a blatant money grab.”
In May 2025, Wiley’s legal team moved to dismiss the case. Judge Verna Saunders rejected that motion eight months later. In a response filed the previous January, Wiley’s attorneys called the case “frivolous” and accused Chieke of trying to force a settlement from the artist.
Wiley has denied Chieke’s allegations and said the two had never met; he is pictured beside her at her 2007 art show
Wiley’s seven-foot-tall portrait shows Obama seated in a mahogany chair against a background of green leaves and flowers
Wiley rose to international prominence in 2017 after being selected to paint Barack Obama’s official portrait for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. He became the first African American artist commissioned to create an official U.S. presidential portrait.
The work stands approximately seven feet high and five feet wide. It depicts Obama seated in a mahogany chair, surrounded by green foliage and brightly colored flowers.
The portraits of Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, painted by Amy Sherald, were supported by a combined $500,000 in private donations. Contributors included Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, and San Francisco philanthropist Helen Hilton Raiser.
The funding covered project expenses and the artists’ fees, although the individual payments to Wiley and Sherald were not disclosed.
Following the portraits’ unveiling in 2018, Obama wrote to members of the Obama Foundation and reflected on similarities between his own life and Wiley’s background.
“Kehinde Wiley and I share some things in common. Both of us had an American mother who raised us, an African father who was absent from our lives, and a search to figure out just where we fit in. I wrote a book about that journey, because I can’t paint. But I suspect a lot of Kehinde’s journey is reflected in his art.”
A representative for Barack and Michelle Obama did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.