Timbaland Accuses Former Managers of Taking Millions in Unauthorized Payments

Music producer Timbaland appears at the Collision technology conference in Toronto on May 21, 2019. The Grammy winner has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15 million from two former managers, alleging financial misconduct and mismanagement. (Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Collision via Sportsfile, CC BY 2.0)

Grammy-winning producer Timbaland has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15 million from his former manager and business manager, accusing them of taking unauthorized commissions, concealing financial transactions and mishandling his fortune.

One of the defendants says the producer has nobody to blame but himself.

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 30 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, names former manager Gary Marella and business manager Bruce Seckendorf, along with associated businesses.

Timbaland, whose legal name is Timothy Mosley, alleges that the executives exploited their control over his financial affairs, taking millions in payments and commissions while failing to protect the wealth he accumulated during his decades-long career.

The complaint accuses Marella of collecting at least $2.5 million in excessive or unauthorized commissions and using Timbaland's money for personal expenses.

It also alleges irregularities involving payments from Verzuz, the music-battle platform Timbaland created with Swizz Beatz, and the sale of his music catalog.

According to the filing, Timbaland received two $5 million payments from Verzuz in 2021. He contends Marella was entitled to $1 million in commissions but instead collected $1.5 million.

The lawsuit further alleges that Marella and his company collected $775,000 more than their authorized 10% commission from Timbaland's 2019 catalog deal with Hipgnosis.

Timbaland also accuses Seckendorf and his firm of failing to make mortgage and federal tax payments while continuing to distribute substantial sums to managers and other professionals.

The producer says he discovered serious financial problems in March 2025, when a foreclosure notice arrived at his home.

An independent review subsequently uncovered questionable payments, undisclosed credit-card arrangements and transactions he says he never approved, according to the complaint.

Marella disputes the accusations.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, he said Timbaland was already experiencing financial difficulties when they began working together in 2017.

Marella maintained that his management team generated approximately $75 million in business over nine years but that the producer continued spending beyond his means.

He also rejected the suggestion that he secretly paid himself, arguing that Seckendorf, rather than Marella, handled the producer's finances and management commissions.

Timbaland's attorney, Tynia Coats, challenged that explanation in statements provided Monday to Rolling Stone.

Coats disputed Marella's characterization of the producer's spending and alleged that financial records had been altered to conceal discrepancies.

She cited a consultant payment allegedly recorded as $16,000 despite an actual payment of $165,000. Timbaland and his attorney also alleged that an email was altered to make it appear he had authorized a $250,000 payment to an attorney rather than $100,000.

Those allegations have not been established in court.

The lawsuit also accuses Marella of mismanaging Beatclub, a music marketplace the two developed together. Marella has disputed those allegations, attributing the venture's financial difficulties to problems developing its technology.

The dispute involves business arrangements behind one of hip-hop and R&B's most influential production careers. Timbaland's work with Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake and other artists helped shape the sound of popular music in the late 1990s and 2000s.

The lawsuit seeks damages, an accounting of disputed transactions and a jury trial. It includes claims of fraudulent concealment, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and civil theft.

Yella Beezy Murder Trial Turns to Phone Evidence After Witness Recants

Rapper Yella Beezy appears in a 2025 interview with BOSS TALK 101. The Dallas rapper, whose legal name is Markies Conway, is standing trial on a capital murder charge in connection with the 2020 killing of fellow rapper MO3. (Photo: BOSS TALK 101/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)

The prosecution's case against Yella Beezy has moved from a witness who says he lied to cellphone records that may be just as important for what they don't show.

An FBI agent testified Tuesday that phones linked to several people implicated in the 2020 killing of Dallas rapper MO3 traveled through overlapping areas and showed significant communication around the time of the shooting.

But the same records revealed no direct cellphone contact between Yella Beezy and two other defendants in the case.

Yella Beezy, whose legal name is Markies Conway, has pleaded not guilty to capital murder. Prosecutors accuse him of arranging the killing of MO3, born Melvin Noble, who was chased down and fatally shot on Interstate 35 in Dallas on Nov. 11, 2020.

FBI Special Agent Taylor Page spent much of Tuesday walking jurors through historical cellphone records involving Conway, convicted gunman Kewon White and other people connected to the investigation.

Page testified that phones associated with Conway and White traveled through the same general areas during a trip to Houston over Halloween weekend in 2020, less than two weeks before MO3 was killed.

He acknowledged, however, that cellphone-tower information cannot prove who was carrying a particular phone or whether two devices were inside the same vehicle.

The agent also described a surge in communications between White and another defendant, Devin Brown, around the time of the killing.

According to Page's analysis, White's phone connected to towers serving the area of the shooting before the device moved away. Communications between White and Brown increased sharply around the attack.

Prosecutors also presented evidence concerning Conway's movements after the killing.

Page testified that Conway returned to Dallas from Los Angeles on Nov. 20 and withdrew $40,000 from a Chase Bank branch in Frisco. Phone records placed another man connected to the case, Jerry Johnson, in the Frisco area shortly afterward.

Prosecutors have alleged that money was paid to arrange MO3's murder, but the withdrawal alone does not establish that the cash reached White or was connected to the shooting.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Toby Shook challenged the accuracy and completeness of the cellphone analysis.

Page acknowledged that the records did not show direct communications between Conway and either White or Brown. He also agreed that cell-tower information identifies general coverage areas rather than a person's exact location.

The defense pointed to gaps in the timeline, including an unanalyzed three-hour period on the afternoon of the killing.

The testimony followed another significant development Monday, when Conway's longtime friend Theodore Thomas, a rapper known as Jose Bodega, disavowed allegations he previously made to a grand jury.

Thomas said he invented statements about a feud involving Conway and MO3 and an alleged conversation about paying for the killing.

He testified that pressure from federal authorities facing him with serious criminal charges led him to provide false information.

Prosecutors challenged that explanation, suggesting that Thomas changed his account because of his longstanding loyalty to Conway.

Judge Chika Anyiam instructed jurors that Thomas' earlier statements could be considered when evaluating his credibility, but not as evidence that the allegations were true or that Conway was guilty.

White was convicted of capital murder in September and sentenced to life in prison. Conway is being tried separately.

Jurors were dismissed early Tuesday to allow them to vote in the election.

The trial is continuing, with prosecutors attempting to establish how the alleged killing was arranged and the defense challenging whether the evidence connects Conway to that arrangement.

Paris Jackson Challenges Estate Over $600 Million as Inheritance Battle Deepens

Paris Jackson performs at La Maroquinerie in Paris on March 5, 2022. Jackson is asking a Los Angeles judge to order $600 million transferred from her late father's estate to a family trust established for his children. (Photo: Eb59/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Michael Jackson left behind a fortune and a trust intended to provide for his children. Seventeen years after his death, his daughter says the trust still hasn't received the money it was supposed to hold.

Paris Jackson is asking a Los Angeles judge to order the transfer of $600 million from her father's estate into the Michael Jackson Family Trust, escalating a dispute over how the late superstar's wealth is being managed.

In a petition filed Oct. 29, Jackson argues that the estate has accumulated enough money from music deals, property sales and other transactions to begin funding the trust while preserving sufficient assets to meet its remaining obligations.

The filing points to an estate accounting showing approximately $850 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2024. Her attorneys estimate that roughly $600 million could be transferred after accounting for potential liabilities.

The request is not for an immediate $600 million payment to Paris personally. She wants the money placed in the trust established for her and her brothers, Prince and Bigi.

Under the trust arrangements described in the petition, the siblings were intended to begin receiving income from their respective shares at age 21, followed by portions of the principal at ages 30, 35 and 40.

All three have passed their 21st birthdays, and Prince turns 30 next February.

The estate disputes the suggestion that the children have been deprived of financial support.

In a statement to People, the estate said more than $200 million has already been distributed for the beneficiaries' benefit. It also denied allegations that payments to the siblings were withheld or reduced after Paris began questioning the estate's management.

The executors contend that unresolved legal and financial obligations, including a continuing tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, prevent the trusts from being fully funded.

The IRS originally sought approximately $700 million in taxes and penalties, according to the estate. Although that amount was substantially reduced through litigation, the estate maintains that the matter remains unresolved.

Paris' attorneys argue that those uncertainties do not justify delaying a partial transfer.

Her filing cites proceeds from major transactions involving EMI Music Publishing, Neverland Ranch and a deal with Sony involving Jackson's music and intellectual property. Together, the transactions generated more than $1 billion in cash before taxes and expenses, the petition contends.

The dispute is part of a broader fight over the administration of an estate that was deeply in debt when Jackson died in 2009 but subsequently became one of the music industry's most valuable collections of assets.

Earlier this year, a judge ordered $625,000 in bonus payments made to outside law firms returned to the estate after sustaining an objection by Paris. The estate disagreed with that decision and emphasized that the payments had not gone to its executors.

John Branca is now the estate's remaining executor following the death of longtime co-executor John McClain in May.

A hearing on Paris Jackson's request is scheduled for Dec. 4.