Rihanna
sued her former accountants Thursday, blaming them for tens of
millions of dollars in losses, shoddy bookkeeping, a failure to
recommend she trim expenses when a 2009 tour was losing money and an
ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
The
lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan sought unspecified damages
against New York-based Berdon LLP and two accountants. A Berdon
spokeswoman said the company had no immediate comment.
The
singer, suing under her real name, Robyn Fenty, alleged through her
attorneys that the defendants drained tens of millions of dollars
from revenues while she launched four national and international
tours over a five-year period.
By the "Last Girl
on Earth" tour in 2009, Rihanna learned that the tour had managed
"significant net losses" despite robust revenues, though the
defendants had managed to pocket 22 percent of the tour's total
revenues while paying Rihanna just 6 percent of revenues, the
lawsuit said. It said Berdon's unusual accounting practice of paying
itself a percentage of gross tour income as commissions left it no
incentive to "counsel" Rihanna to reduce expenses or put in place
appropriate financial controls.
The lawsuit
alleged that the practice of paying itself commissions on revenues
was not standard in the accounting and business management industry
and created a clear conflict of interest.
Rihanna's
lawyers also blamed the accounting firm for an ongoing IRS audit of
her tax returns, saying she was forced to spend significant
resources to correct errors resulting from negligence.
Since
firing the firm and its accountants in September 2010, Rihanna's
fortunes already have reversed, the lawsuit said. The "Loud" tour
stretching from June 2011 to December 2011 produced a net profit
equal to more than 40 percent of total tour revenues, it added.
According
to the lawsuit, the singer hired the accountants in 2005 when she
was a 16-year-old from Barbados launching her career. She alleged
that they repeatedly breached their agreements, engaged in
misconduct and malfeasance, paid themselves excessive commissions,
created entities without regard to their effect on her taxes and
failed to document revenue and expenses and implement a proper
budget.
The lawsuit also blamed the company for
Rihanna's 2009 purchase of a new home, saying competent business
managers would have told her that her tour was losing money and that
it would not be advisable to buy such an expensive home at that
time.
Last year, Rihanna sued a real estate
company in Los Angeles over the $6.9 million purchase of a hillside
home in 2009, saying it had serious structural defects that made it
inhabitable.
More resistance in the anti-DJ Paris Hilton movement ... and this time, the attack comes with a 
We all know you can’t stunt proper unless your team’s by your side!
