Hit-making producer Timbaland is going to court against his former managers, filing a lawsuit alleging that they treated him like “a piggy bank” in the documents.
In the lawsuit filed last Friday (October 30) in Los Angeles, California, Timbaland accused former manager Gary Marella claiming that he “stole millions in unauthorized commissions, fees, and reimbursements” and “falsified financial records” to hide his actions.
He also alleged that former business manager Bruce Seckendorf incurred large tax penalties by not paying federal taxes, all while paying himself and Marella millions in fees. The situation almost left Timbaland’s house in foreclosure in addition to the penalties being levied.
“This is not a case about ordinary business losses or bookkeeping errors,” Timbaland’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. “Defendants used their entrusted authority to enrich themselves and others, conceal financial misconduct, and deplete Timbaland’s valuable assets.”
Timbaland was managed by Marella for close to a decade, with the latter overseeing the iconic producer behind songs such as Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin” and Missy Elliott’s “Sock It To Me” as he sold his catalog to Hipnosis Songs Fund in 2019 and his stake in the popular livestream rap and R&B battle series Verzuz.
Their split began in August, when DJ E Feezy filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Timbaland in a Florida court. Timbaland in turn blamed Marella, claiming his financial impropriety was responsible for E Feezy being let go and claiming he fired Marella a year earlier. Timbaland, aka Timothy Zachary Mosley, alleged that “Defendants knew where the money went. Mosley did not.”
Timbaland also claimed Marella took funds from Beatclub, their joint venture launched in 2021 to help producers sell and market their beats to interested parties, and“treated Mosley as a piggy bank to repair the problems he created.”
Marella denied the accusations. “When I began managing Tim in 2017, long after he had produced his biggest hits, he was already in a bad financial place,” Marella said in a statemetn. “His financial problems did not begin with me. I came in to help rebuild his business. Over approximately nine years after I started working with Tim, we generated roughly $75 million in business.”
