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Elton John goes to court to recover $30 million
LONDON--Sir Elton John filed a $30 million lawsuit against his former agent Andrew Haydon and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers at the high court in London on Monday (10/30), accusing them of negligence in managing his affairs.
The action follows a preliminary hearing in December 1999, in which lawyers for PricewaterhouseCoopers claimed that John accepted a $7.5 million (£5 million) pay-out. The pay-out came from John Reid, the former founder of John Reid Enterprises, the firm that was acquired by PricewaterhouseCoopers and of which Haydon was managing director.
John claims that he lost out on an alleged $30 million after John Reid Enterprises, upon the advice of Haydon, charged him U.S. tour expenses. Although Haydon advised the firm that it was normal practice to charge for tour expenses, John claims a 1984 contract with the firm would have made it their responsibility to pay them.
John's lawyer, Gordon Pollock, said in court that, between 1984 and 1998, John’s companies W Bong Ltd., J Bondi Ltd. and Happenstance Ltd. "bore several million pounds worth of costs or fees which … contractually should have fallen on John Reid Enterprises."
The suit against PricewaterhouseCoopers and Haydon is being brought by John and his three companies, and is expected to last eight weeks.
