Coldplay has countersued their ex-manager for £14 million

Coldplay is a very private organization that doesn’t talk about their inner workings, so when word of the lawsuit filed by their ex-manager against the band came out back in August, the gossip started flying.

David Holmes, who was a major part of managing Coldplay for years, was either (a) fired or (b) didn’t have his contract renewed. This pissed him off so he filed a £10 million lawsuit against the group. Coldplay appears to be even more missed off, so they’ve countersued to the tune of £14 million. They’re claiming damages of that amount.

Holmes says that this is a diversion that relies on “non-existent ethical lapses and other made-up misconduct.” Coldplay claims in the countersuit that everything Holmes says in his lawsuit is junk and that his contract was terminated because of growing concerns about his conduct. That includes bad financial decisions, rental of the wrong equipment for the Music of The Spheres tour, and more, all of which cost the band money. Millions, in fact, hence the damage claim.

There’s more, too. Coldplay alleges that Holmes borrowed US$30 million from Live Nation to fund some kind of property development somewhere in Canada. The band says they knew nothing about that. Did Holmes leverage his association with Coldplay to access that money? That’s what Coldplay claims.

Here’s what Holmes says to all this: “Coldplay know they are in trouble with their defence. Accusing Dave Holmes of non-existent ethical lapses and other made-up misconduct will not deflect from the real issue at hand – Coldplay had a contract with Dave, they are refusing to honour it and they need to pay Dave what they owe him”.

We’ll have to monitoring this.