Rihanna Sues Accountants, Alleges ‘Gross Mismanagement’
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Jacopo Raule/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, has filed a lawsuit against her former accountants alleging financial mismanagement.
In the lawsuit filed in a Manhattan court, according to the Wall Street Journal, the singer alleges her former accounting firm, Berdon LLP, and two accountants caused “significant financial losses.” The singer reportedly hired the accounting firm in 2005 at the age of 16 and she claims “gross mismanagement” of her fortune, which allegedly cost her millions during her 2010 Last Girl on Earth tour, according to Courthouse News.
The complaint states, “astonishingly, however, due to its improper financial arrangement with Fenty, Berdon paid itself millions of dollars in commissions for the Last Girl on Earth tour based on Fenty’s gross receipts from the tour.”
The singer claims to have pocketed six percent of total revenues, while paying out 22 percent to the accounting firm, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The lawsuit, alleges the accounting firm “…failed to follow applicable industry standard accounting and business management practices, as alleged herein. In particular, plaintiffs are informed and believe, and on that basis allege, that, among other omissions and failures, defendants’ recordkeeping and accounting methods failed to provide sufficient information and/or detail regarding, and/or failed entirely to account for, Plaintiffs’ revenue and expenses and failed to ensure maximization of Plaintiffs’ revenue and Fenty’s personal net worth and long term wealth.”
According to Courthouse News, the lawsuit alleges mismanagement of the singer’s taxes and poor financial advice concerning the purchase of a home. The complaint alleges, “….that of the millions of dollars in excessive commissions earned by Berdon from 2005 through September 2010, Berdon provided time sheets for only 17 percent of the time billed for work done on Fenty’s accounts. Indeed, nearly 75 percent of the invoices Fenty received from Berdon contained little or no explanation or description of the work done by Berdon’s employees, despite the fact that some employees purported to spend anywhere from two to 10 hours per day working on Fenty’ s accounts.”
A spokesperson for Rihanna did not immediately return an email request for comment. An answering service for Berdon stated the accounting firm was closed for the day.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio