Keyes Had No Part In Gaga Scam

London-based party planner Banana Split has withdrawn its legal action against New York agent Carlos Keyes over a Lady Gaga show that was supposed to happen March 16 in Cancun, Mexico.

The Barnes & Thornburg law firm, representing Banana Split, wrote to Keyes’ Red Entertainment Aug. 17 acknowledging that the claims against the company had been withdrawn, as they were “the result of unwitting participation in the wrongdoing of others.”

A week earlier the New York District Court announced that Banana Split had dropped its case against Keyes’ firm, although it will continue to pursue its action against Vincent Carroll of Nevada Style LLC.

The London firm wants the return of its $1 million-plus deposit, plus damages for conspiracy and fraud.

Banana Split originally filed suit against Keyes claiming he issued “a fake contract and several Lady Gaga contract riders” for the singer to appear in Cancun.

It also said Keyes and Carroll had created “an enterprise comprised of multiple corporate shells that is funded by and actively engaged in a pattern of defrauding businesses using the same concert scam.

“Defendants executed a web polished scheme to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign concert promoters by posing as entertainment agents and purporting to book concerts on behalf of famous music artists with whom they had no relationship whatsoever,” the Manhattan court filing said.

Keyes, whose Red Entertainment Agency represents Chic Feat. Nile Rodgers, Dionne Warwick, Freddie Jackson, Keith Sweat and Peabo Bryson, among others, has always denied any involvement in a scam.

Photo: Jen Lowery Photography
Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.

He said he forwarded the deposit to Carroll at Nevada Style Inc., the mediator for the deal with Lady Gaga representatives.