Timbaland’s lawyer alleges payment discrepancies in manager dispute
His attorney cited two disputed transactions as a former manager denied the broader allegations in a lawsuit seeking more than $15 million.
File photo: Timbaland at Collision 2019 in Toronto, not a photo of the lawsuit or its parties. Photo by Cody Glenn/Collision via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cody Glenn / Collision Conf · CC BY 2.0 · Resized for display.
Timbaland’s legal fight with former managers picked up a new accounting dispute this week. His attorney, Tynia Coats, says records she reviewed show two transactions that raise questions about how payments were approved and distributed. Those are the lawyer’s allegations, not findings by a court.
The complaint and both sides’ accounts remain allegations; no court ruling has been reported.
Rolling Stone reported November 3 that Coats said a consultant was listed for a $16,000 payment but received $165,000. She also alleged that an email approving a $100,000 attorney payment was changed to show $250,000. The comments add detail to a civil complaint filed October 30 in Los Angeles County Superior Court that seeks more than $15 million.
The complaint accuses the former managers of taking excess commissions and fees and failing to keep up with mortgage and tax payments, according to TheWrap, which says it reviewed the filing. Former manager Gary Marella denies wrongdoing. He told TheWrap that Timbaland was already broke and in debt when Marella was hired in 2017, that his team generated about $75 million over roughly nine years, and that business manager Bruce Seckendorf handled finances and commissions.
The dispute now turns in part on the paper trail: what was authorized, what was paid, and who had responsibility for the accounts. The competing descriptions are claims and responses reported by the outlets; no court decision resolving them has been reported.
