Trent Reznor (NIN) sues ex-manager

[aussiecreeder]

Nine Inch Nails principal Trent Reznor has filed a countersuit against his former manager for breach of contract and fiduciary duty and conspiracy. In the complaint, filed May 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Reznor says J. Artist Management -- owned and operated by Reznor's ex-manager John Malm -- and Navigent Group, an Ohio company, together took improper control of Reznor's finances and legal documents.

Reznor's suit follows an April 21 suit filed against him by Malm. The latter managed Reznor from the mid-'80s until last year, when the pair parted ways. Reznor alleges that the defendants withheld money he earned and refused to turn over books and records of financial transactions involving his money.

He seeks the return of the books and records plus unspecified monetary damages. Calls to Navigent Group for comment were not returned by deadline.

"Trent Reznor's lawsuit is nothing more than an ill-conceived response to an earlier lawsuit that John Malm was forced to bring in April against Reznor to recover more than $2 million in commissions that Reznor has refused to pay," says Malm's lawyer, Alan Hirth. "Reznor has reneged on every single contract that he and Malm ever entered into. For at least the past six years Reznor's lawyers were fully apprised of all business dealings between Reznor and Malm. Only when Reznor ran out of money after failing for five years to release a new album or go on tour did Reznor and his high-priced handlers decide to blame Malm for Reznor's reckless spending and abandonment of Reznor's career."

As previously reported, Nine Inch Nails will release its next Interscope album, "Bleed Through," later this summer.


-- Samantha Chang, N.Y.