Three black friends who spend half a million dollars a year at Louis Vuitton are suing the luxury brand after receiving a shocking email banning them from the store over false claims they used “drug money” to buy items.
Tracy Renne Williams, her daughter Brandi Williams and a friend, Kristopher Enoch, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Louis Vuitton on Friday in federal court in California.
The plaintiffs have accused the high-end company of banning them from its stores for “shopping while black” and telling them they would be arrested if they returned, according to the suit.
Tracy, a “VIP” customer of the brand, pre-ordered $50,000 worth of merchandise to be delivered to her home from the Louis Vuitton store in Costa Mesa, California, in September 2022.
She soon received a gruesome email from the brand telling her she could “no longer” do business with them.
But when Tracy sent her white assistant to buy the same items she wanted, he was treated “with respect” and “was not threatened with arrest,” the lawsuit says.
Tracy Renne Williams (pictured), her daughter Brandi Williams and a friend, Kristopher Enoch, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Louis Vuitton on Friday in a California federal court.
The plaintiffs have accused the company of banning them from its stores for “shopping while black” and telling them they would be arrested if they returned, according to the suit. (Pictured: Exterior of the Costa Mesa store)
The email to Tracy read: ‘Dear Ms Tracy Williams, We have been made aware that Louis Vuitton has been unable to meet your needs.
‘We inform you that Louis Vuitton is no longer willing to do business with you and we ask that you no longer visit our boutiques or attempt to order our products by phone, online or in person at any Louis Vuitton store.
‘Please do not attempt to contact the stores. Any attempt to contact Louis Vuitton must be directed in writing to our Legal Department at the following address: Attn: General Counsel, Louis Vuitton Americas, 1 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10022.’
After receiving the scathing correspondence, Tracy visited a Louis Vuitton store in Beverley Hills and was told by a white manager “that she was no longer welcome to shop at the store and that she would be arrested if she stayed or returned,” the lawsuit says.
After not receiving any products or a refund for her order, Tracy sent her white assistant to the same store where he was treated drastically differently than she was, the lawsuit details.
‘On the contrary, Louis Vuitton staff treated him with respect and, even though the assistant stated that he would (and did) pay for the items with several thousand dollars in cash, he was not otherwise prevented from making the purchase,’ according to the document.
When Brandi (pictured) walked into a Louis Vuitton store in Chicago in July 2023, a white store manager who “recognized” her soon “refused to allow her to shop” there.
The suit recognized Tracy as a “VIP” customer of the brand, giving her access to exclusive events and sales and “dedicated Louis Vuitton concierges” who “attend to her customer service needs.”
After being allegedly “blacklisted” by the company, the lawsuit claims Tracy, who once had a “lucrative social media presence” showcasing her outlandish finds, has lost around $40,000 in income.
Last year, Tracy attempted to purchase nine pairs of limited-edition Nike Air Force 1 sneakers at $2,300 each but was unable to because of the alleged ban, according to the lawsuit.
Instead, those custom sneakers sold at auction to the public for between $176,400 and $352,800 a pair. Those same sneakers have since been resold for more than $1 million a pair, according to the lawsuit.
According to the filing, her daughter Brandi also “experienced discrimination” from the brand while shopping at a Chicago store in July 2023.
During their interaction, a white store manager who “recognized” her soon “refused to allow her to shop” there, according to the lawsuit.
The manager also “baselessly” accused Brandi of “spending drug money” during her shopping spree, according to the lawsuit.
Brandi then sent her “non-Black friend” to the same store to purchase the desired items with a gift card in her name, but was soon contacted by an employee who told her the purchase was “illegal” after discovering it was for her, the lawsuit claimed.
The store also required her to return the purchased items, according to the legal filing.
Tracy’s friend Kristopher was also denied a jacket purchase at a Louis Vuitton store in Beverly Hills, California, in September 2022.
Brandi walked into a Louis Vuitton store in New Orleans and was again told to leave “or she would be arrested,” the lawsuit says.
Tracy’s friend Kristopher also experienced a similar interaction while shopping at a Louis Vuitton store in Beverly Hills in September 2022.
At the time, Kristopher liked a jacket that a “non-black customer” wasn’t interested in after a store employee presented it to him, the lawsuit claims.
Kristopher told staff he wanted to buy the jacket for Tracy, but employees told him it was “not available” without a clear explanation from the store manager, the lawsuit claims.
Following interactions between Brandi and Kristopher, they “received materially identical messages” to those Tracy received from the luxury brand, according to the lawsuit.
After each of them experienced their strange interactions with the brand, Tracy “attempted to resolve” the issue at hand, according to the lawsuit.
The three plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and are suing the company for racial discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, trade discrimination, tortious breach of contract, and theft. (Pictured: Interior of the Costa Mesa store)
According to the filing, the Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa stores blamed each other for the incidents.
She even contacted the company’s vice president, who told her “there was nothing he could do about it” and directed her to the brand’s legal team, according to the lawsuit.
Tracy has not received a response from the brand’s legal representatives, the lawsuit states.
The legal filing went on to reference Oprah Winfrey’s “experience with hateful race-based discrimination” with Louis Vuitton when the store refused to sell her a handbag in 2015.
“This bag is for the Italian people; it is only for the Italian people,” the talk show host, who spoke about the situation in a video, recalled an Italian salesman telling her at the time.
The three plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and are suing for racial discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, business discrimination, tortious breach of contract and theft, according to the lawsuit.
DailyMail.com has contacted Louis Vuitton for comment.
