A new Timbaland lawsuit accuses the producer’s former manager and former business manager of fraud, civil theft and breach of fiduciary duty, and it seeks more than $15 million. Timbaland, whose real name is Timothy Mosley, filed the 65 page complaint Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against former manager Gary Marella and former business manager Bruce Seckendorf.
Fiduciary duty is the legal obligation to act in someone else’s best interest when you handle their money or business. Timbaland claims both men broke that trust. The suit says Marella “stole millions in unauthorized commissions, fees, and reimbursements.” It also accuses him of using Timbaland’s money to pay Marella’s own employees and of falsifying financial records to hide those payments.
According to the suit, Timbaland learned something was wrong in 2025, when he received a foreclosure notice on his home. He says Seckendorf failed to pay his mortgage, let the house get close to foreclosure, and could not clearly explain why his office had stopped making the payments without telling him.
Timbaland says he then hired independent lawyers and new financial advisers. The suit claims they found unauthorized payments, hidden credit card arrangements, falsified communications, debts he had not been told about, and loans he says he never knowingly agreed to.
Some of the biggest numbers in the Timbaland lawsuit are tied to Verzuz, the music battle series he cofounded with Swizz Beatz. The suit says Marella kept $500,000 more than he was entitled to on two separate $5 million Verzuz payments.
The suit also challenges Marella’s pay on the 2019 sale of Timbaland’s catalog to Hipgnosis. Timbaland claims Marella took $775,000 more than his 10 percent commission allowed. It also accuses Marella of mismanaging Beatclub, the beat marketplace the two men cofounded, and of using Timbaland’s money to cover the company’s problems.
The full list of claims also includes fraudulent concealment, breach of contract and unauthorized use of Timbaland’s name and likeness. Timbaland is asking the court to order a full accounting, which is a formal review of where his money went, and to stop the defendants from continuing to use his name for their own benefit.
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Marella is denying the allegations. “I dispute these allegations,” he said, and he accused Timbaland of trying to blame others for his own spending and financial decisions. Marella says Timbaland was already struggling financially when they started working together in 2017, and that they generated about $75 million in business over roughly nine years. On the catalog sale, he said, “Tim was fully aware of the 15 percent commission I received on the Hipgnosis catalog sale.” He also says the business manager paid him with Timbaland’s approval.
Seckendorf has not publicly responded to the lawsuit.
