George Clinton Sues Former Agent In Effort To Reclaim Music Catalog

On March 11, the icon filed a lawsuit against Boladian for allegedly committing fraud and copyright infringement when they were business partners, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Court documents revealed that Clinton claimed his ex-rep participated in a “decades-long scheme” of signing his music rights away by forging the singer’s signature on paperwork, making him the owner of 90% of Clinton’s catalog. The filing also mentions that he stole millions of dollars in royalties by committing these crimes.

Boladian’s lawyer, Richard Busch, defended his client by saying this is another legal escapade of the musician that will result in a loss.

“This is just the latest in a series of lawsuits that Mr. Clinton has filed against Bridgeport and Armen Boladian over the last 30 years raising the same exact issues,” the attorney said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “He has lost each and every time.”

Clinton, recognized for hits sampled across numerous genres, has been locked in a lengthy legal dispute with producer Boladian regarding the latter’s fraudulent acquisition of the rights to his songs using falsified paperwork. In 2001, a Florida judge sided with Boladian’s holding company, Bridgeport Music, granting them rights to several Clinton tracks. Despite this ruling, Clinton has consistently maintained that Boladian unlawfully obtained control of his royalties through forged contracts that date back to the early ’80s.

The lawsuit details allegations that between 1982 and 1986, Boladian illegally altered agreements to increase his profits, funneling royalties into his businesses without Clinton’s consent. Boladian has countered by claiming Clinton owes him money for unrecovered expenses, which the music artist strongly disputes. The complaint also states that Boladian made up songwriters, like “L. Crane” and “B. Blaine,” when registering copyrights for Clinton’s songs to spread out royalties.

“In addition, Boladian would also pay third parties to claim ownership of Plaintiff’s work to defraud Plaintiff of royalties derived from such works,” the lawsuit read. “For example, Boladian paid Mark Bass to have him falsely claim ‘Anybody Get Funked Up’ as his own to Defraud Plaintiff of royalty shares in this song.”

Boladian’s other companies, Westbound Records, Nine Records, South Records and Southfield Music are also included in the suit and accused of cashing in on Clinton’s hits without paying him his fair share.