Timbaland, the Grammy-winning producer known for smash hits including Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” and Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” is suing his ex-managers for $15 million and blasting claims by one of the managers, Gary Marella, that the hitmaker is trying “to shift responsibility for his own overspending.”
“Mr. Marella is the one attempting to shift responsibility here,” the producer’s lawyer, Tynia Coats, says in a new statement sent to Rolling Stone on Monday. “Timbaland hired him to manage his business affairs and protect his interests. Holding someone accountable for the responsibilities they were hired and paid to perform is not shifting blame.”
Timbaland, whose legal name is Timothy Mosley, filed his lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It alleges Marella, along with Mosley’s business manager, Bruce Seckendorf, took over his finances in 2016 after the musician uncovered alleged misconduct by a prior management team. Rather than look after his interests, the lawsuit claims, the new managers used “their entrusted authority to enrich themselves and others, conceal financial misconduct, and deplete Timbaland’s valuable assets.”
According to the new lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone, Marella took at least $2.5 million in “excessive or unauthorized” commissions and saddled Mosley with fees, reimbursements, and “undisclosed American Express cards” that Marella allegedly used for groceries, cosmetic medical procedures, family vacations, and other personal expenses.
Mosley alleges that when he received two $5 million payments in 2021 from the Verzuz platform he created with Swizz Beatz, Marella was entitled to $1 million in commissions but took two payments of $750,000. He claims Marella and his company also “took $775,000 more than their authorized 10 percent commission” from his 2019 Hipgnosis catalog sale and that Marella “grossly mismanaged” their Beatclub venture, treating it like “a piggy bank to repair the problems he created.”
Mosley accused Seckendorf of facilitating the unauthorized payments, failing to disclose irregularities, failing to pay his taxes and mortgage, and taking a cut of sale proceeds without transparent accounting. He says the “scheme began to unravel in March 2025,” when a foreclosure notice arrived at his home.
In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Marella said Mosley was to blame for his financial issues.
“Unfortunately, Tim is attempting to shift responsibility for his own overspending and financial decisions onto someone else (again) as he did before we managed him,” Marella told the outlet, which first reported the new lawsuit. “When I began managing him in 2017, long after producing his biggest hits, he was already broke and in debt, had spent all of his money, and was living in a rental. His financial problems did not begin with me. I came in to help rebuild his business. Over approximately nine years, we generated roughly $75 million in business. Despite that, Tim continued spending beyond his means, ultimately having to sell his home last year due to his actions and move into a rental in Coral Gables. Those were the consequences of his own financial decisions, no one else.”
On Monday, Mosley and his lawyer said the issue isn’t “a problem with the artist’s spending.” They would “welcome a full accounting showing how Timbaland allegedly spent that money.”
In their response, Mosley and Coats alleged that beyond missing money, they have evidence that financial records were falsified to show that a third-party consultant was paid $16,000 when he actually received $165,000. They further claimed emails were altered to make it appear that Mosley approved paying an attorney $250,000 instead of $100,000.
Marella and Seckendorf did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mosley’s new 75-page lawsuit includes claims for breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, breach of contract, and civil theft. It alleges Mosley suffered damages estimated to exceed $15 million and asks for a jury trial.
