Rihanna sues accountancy firm over tens of millions in lost income
Rihanna’s Twitter death in January 2012 was a bit more elaborate than most. Her hoax even came with the backstory that the singer was killed in a plane crash. Thankfully, it wasn’t true.
Rihanna is suing her former accountants over tens of millions of dollars she said they lost through shoddy bookkeeping, poor advice regarding a loss-making tour and a failure to satisfy the Internal Revenue Service.
A lawsuit filed by the Barbados-born singer and actress, 24, and her tour company, Tourihanna, blamed the company for Rihanna's purchase of a new $6.9 million home in Los Angeles in 2009 while her "Last Girl on Earth" tour was losing money.
The lawsuit named New York-based accountancy firm Berdon and two of its employees, Michael Mitnick and Peter Gounis, according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to the suit, filed in Manhattan this week under Rihanna's real name Robyn Fenty, Berdon failed to recommend the performer trim expenses during the "Last Girl on Earth" tour.
Reuters cited the suit as claiming the Berdon caused "significant financial losses" between 2005 and 2010 by charging "exorbitant" commissions.
According to the WSJ, Berdon customarily paid itself a percentage of gross tour income — in this case, 22 percent — so had no incentive to "counsel" Rihanna to reduce expenses.
Rihanna received just 6 percent of revenues from the tour, the suit claims.
According to Sky News, Rihanna has also accused Berdon of negligence over in filing her tax returns, forcing her to spend significant resources to correct errors.
Despite this, the IRS was still auditing her, the lawsuit states.
Berdon has reportedly not responded to media requests for comment.
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