Kanye West Fires Off Cease and Desist to Kim Kardashian Over Their Kids

2 PM PT -- Turns out Kanye West's threatening letter to Kim Kardashian accusing her of exploiting their kids is a hoax.

After we spotted a bunch of red flags pointing to this being a phony correspondence -- Kanye's camp confirms to us the letter is bogus ... and they say Ye had nothing to do with it.

Kanye West says Kim Kardashian is not only exploiting their children, but he claims she left North all alone in a car while prancing around the Met Gala this week ... and now he's threatening to drag her to court over all of it.

The rapper's lawyer, Kathy Johnson, sent Kim's attorney, Laura Wasser, a cease and desist letter, "concerning the welfare and custody of Mr. West’s minor children: North West, Saint West, Chicago West, and Psalm West."

As you know, Kim and Kanye got divorced in 2021 after 7 years of marriage and 4 kids. As part of their divorce settlement, they have joint custody of the kids and Kanye pays $200K every month in child support.

In the cease and desist, Kanye claims Kim violated his rights and their divorce settlement in 3 ways: First, Kanye says Kim brought North to the Met Gala in NYC earlier this week, and claims she left their 11-year-old daughter unattended in a vehicle during portions of the event.

Ye also claims Kim ignored his demands not to post "images and videos" of North on TikTok.

Second, Kanye says Kim has denied him "meaningful access" to his children, which violates their custody agreement for equal parenting and decision making.

Ye notes he has not seen Saint so far this year, and has had "unreasonably restricted" interactions with North, Chicago, and Psalm.

BTW, his claim about Saint -- which he already made on X -- has been debunked, as there are pics of him with his 3 youngest kids in Japan back in January.

For his third and final point ... Kanye says Kim is exploiting North for "personal or commercial gain" by posting online content of their daughter at public events. He says this "disregards his joint custodial rights and his stated opposition to his children’s public exposure."

Sources connected to Kim tell us Kanye has rarely asked to see the kids at all this year, and Kim's never denied him access when he does want to see them.