Peas Sue Former Biz Manager

A former Black Eyed Peas business manager defrauded members of the group by failing to file income tax reports and then lying about it, costing the band some $3.2 million, three of the four Peas claim in a lawsuit filed against Sean Larkin in Los Angeles July 19.

The federal lawsuit, filed in bankruptcy court, accuses former longtime financial adviser Larkin of “fraud and deceit.”
“Larkin falsely represented … on numerous occasions that he was taking care of everything and they had nothing to worry about,” wrote lawyers for William Adams, Jaime Gomez and Allan Pineda, better known to BEP fans as wil.i.am, Taboo and apl.de.ap. Fourth member Stacy Ferguson, or Fergie, employs her own business manager and is not involved in the suit.

The heart of the complaint concerns Larkin’s acknowledged failure to file state and federal income tax returns on behalf of group members and their companies between 2002 and 2009.

According to the suit, after band members discovered in 2009 that they had massive tax bills and confronted Larkin, he promised to file the delinquent returns and cover all the costs. But “Larkin’s representations proved to be false.”
The musicians fired Larkin and paid off their taxes but claim Larkin has yet to provide them with financial records they need to complete returns for their touring company.

The band members filed the complaint as part of Larkin’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles.

Larkin owes the government more than $1 million in back taxes, and two other clients are suing him for failing to file their returns for years.

Adams, Gomez and Pineda asked a bankruptcy judge to order Larkin to pay them back and to prohibit him from emerging from bankruptcy until he does.

In a February deposition, Larkin acknowledged failing to file taxes for clients and said he “got in over my head with the amount of clients I had.”