Timbaland Demands Receipts After Ex-Manager Says He Blew His Fortune

Timbaland‘s lawyer answered Gary Marella’s overspending claims Monday, November 2, accusing the producer’s former management team of failing to protect his money and pointing to allegedly altered records.

“Holding someone accountable for the responsibilities they were hired and paid to perform is not shifting blame,” attorney Tynia Coats told Rolling Stone.

Coats and Timbaland alleged that accounting records listed a consultant’s payment as $16,000 even though the consultant received $165,000. They also alleged that emails were changed to suggest Timbaland approved a $250,000 attorney payment when he had approved $100,000.

Coats and Timbaland also called for an accounting of how the producer supposedly spent the money Marella said his team brought in.

The response followed Timbaland’s October 30 lawsuit against Marella and business manager Bruce Seckendorf.

The producer sought $15 million, claiming the men mishandled his finances, collected excess commissions and left his mortgage unpaid. He alleged a 2025 foreclosure notice exposed the problems, which also included unpaid federal taxes and penalties.

Marella disputed the accusations in a statement. He said he began managing Timbaland in 2017, when the producer was already in debt, and helped generate roughly $75 million in business over about nine years.

He blamed Timbaland’s spending for his financial troubles and said the business manager handled the money and paid management commissions.

“The allegation that I paid myself without his knowledge is simply absurd. Managing his finances was not my role,” Marella said.

The suit reached across their business relationship, from commissions on Verzuz payments to the sale of Timbaland’s music catalog. It also accused Marella of mismanaging Beatclub, the marketplace the pair developed to connect music creators with established artists. Both managers were fired in 2025.

Marella had publicly backed the catalog deal when Hipgnosis announced it in October 2019. The acquisition covered a catalog comprising 108 albums and songs. Speaking as Timbaland’s manager at the time, Marella emphasized the buyer’s responsibility to creators.

“It’s important to all creators that their work is in the right hands,” Marella said.

Marella and Seckendorf did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new allegations.