Calvin Harris accuses financial advisor of stealing $22.5 million for real estate project
Calvin Harris has accused his financial advisor of more than a decade of stealing $22.5 million for a “boondoggle” real estate project in Hollywood, California.
In an arbitration demand by lawyers representing the Scottish DJ and producer, real name Adam Wiles, Thomas St. John allegedly “induced” Wiles to invest in a real estate development with recording studios, artist facilities and offices called CMNTY Culture Campus, Variety reports. The real estate project, which has several other investors since beginning development in 2020, according to St. John’s attorney Sasha Frid, also includes 750 apartments, with 90 low-income units, and outdoor space and retail storefronts.
Calvin Harris’s attorneys claim St. John gave the star documents to sign with no explanation, resulting in a $10 million loan and $12.5 million investment in 2023. “To this day, Claimants do not know where Claimants’ investment has gone or what it has been used for,” Harris’s lawyers said, via Variety. “In any event, Respondents had no intention of Mr. Wiles actually receiving back the full value of his investment, through distributions or otherwise.” They said this investment was “at best, a complete boondoggle, and, at worst, a complete fraud.”
Calvin Harris’s $10 million loan was supposed to be repaid with interest by 31st January this year, according to his attorneys. St. John was no longer working as Harris’s financial Advisor as of this past April.
According to St. John’s attorney, Calvin Harris “actively pursued this development opportunity… Unhappy with the pace of the project, he chose to pursue private arbitration to assert his discontent”, Frid said to Variety. “It’s no secret that due to interest rates and other market factors real estate projects are taking longer to build. But the development is very much viable and expected to have a $900+ million valuation when completed. Mr. St. John denies any wrongdoing.”
Calvin Harris’s May single ‘Blessings‘ has received some legal heat for its perceived similarity to Chicane’s 1996 classic ‘Offshore’. In response to a “copyright alert” from Chicane, Harris said, “It’s not the same… It’s genuinely not the same… But ultimately, even if that did sound the same, I’ve shifted it on the grid and I’ve pitched it as well.”
This past weekend, Harris wrapped up his double-residency at Ushuaïa Ibiza.
