Spector To Receive $900k Settlement

Phil Spector will receive $900,000 from a former assistant who he claimed embezzled thousands of dollars from him.

Superior Court Judge Mark Mooney signed the judgment Monday, making official a deal reached in October between the famed record producer and Michelle Blaine.

Spector claimed in his September 2005 lawsuit that Blaine took $425,000 from his pension fund without his permission and did not repay him $635,000 she used to buy a Costa Mesa home.

Blaine had said the $635,000 was a gift and the pension money was to be used to help finance a movie aimed at refurbishing Spector’s image.

She filed a cross-complaint against Spector in March, claiming sexual harassment and wrongful termination. She believed she was fired because she refused to promise not to talk to prosecutors about what Spector may have told her regarding the death of Lana Clarkson.

Spector is accused of murdering Clarkson, a 40-year-old actress. He is free on $1 million bail and his trial is scheduled for March.

Blaine agreed to drop the countersuit as part of the settlement.

Phone messages left for attorneys on both sides were not immediately returned Monday.

Spector, who was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, is best known for his layered "wall of sound" production technique that he used with the Crystals, the Ronettes and the Ramones. He also worked with the Beatles.