Timbaland is suing his two ex-managers for $15 million, claiming that they used “their entrusted authority to enrich themselves and others, conceal financial misconduct, and deplete Timbaland’s valuable assets.”
However, one of those managers, Gary Marella, has already alleged that by taking out the lawsuit the producer is attempting “to shift responsibility for his own overspending.”
It’s all very messy. The story, it seems, begins in 2016 when Marella and Timbaland’s business manager, Bruce Seekendorf, took over his finances. According to the new lawsuit, Marella took at least $2.5 million in “excessive or unauthorised” commissions, leaving the producer, whose real name is Tim Mosley, saddled with fees, reimbursements and numerous “undisclosed American Express cards” that Marella, allegedly, used to buy groceries, holidays and various other personal expenses.
Latest Videos FromMusicRadar
In addition, Mosley claims that Marella took more than $775,000 more than his authorised 10% commission from Timbaland’s 2019 Hipgnosis catalogue sale and his Beat Club business, allegedly using it as “a piggy bank to repair the problems he created.”
Marella has in turn responded by telling the Hollywood Reporter: “Unfortunately, Tim is attempting to shift responsibility for his own overspending and financial decisions onto someone else [again] as he did before we managed him.”
Marella also claimed that Mosley “had spent all of his money and was living in a rental,” and that over nine years, they generated about $75 million in business together. “Despite that, Tim continued spending beyond his means, ultimately having to sell his home last year due to his actions and move into a rental in Coral Gables. Those were the consequences of his own financial decisions, no one else.”
Timbaland was one of the most successful and influential producers of the ’00s, creating a succession of visionary records, principally with Missy Elliott and Justin Timberlake but also with Aaliyah, Jay-Z and Nelly Furtado. But it’s been some time since his last big production credit. In recent years he’s been in the headlines more for launching his dubious AI ‘artist’ TaTa and spending 10 hours a day using Suno.
The producer has responded to Marella’s claims that he is trying to shift the blame. “Mr. Marella is the one attempting to shift responsibility here,” his lawyer, Tynia Coats said in a statement. “Timbaland hired him to manage his business affairs and protect his interests. Holding someone accountable for the responsibilities they were hired and paid to perform is not shifting blame.”
