Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Talent Manager’s Fraud Claim, Over Buyout of His Share of Company Formed With Client, Is Struck Down

By Stan Soocher
March 01, 2025

It isn’t unusual for talent managers and artists they manage to cofound and operate businesses together. For example, a recording artist and manager may join together to establish their own record label. If an artist/manager partnership or joint-venture projects are to be part of the relationship, a manager will want the artist to sign a conflicts-of-interest waiver. This is because a manager owes an artist a fiduciary obligation based on the artist entrusting the manager to in good faith primarily further the artist’s career.

Sometimes, though, the talent manager may claim the artist has violated the manager’s rights via the joint-business entity, as recently happened when talent manager Michael Gruen sued Josh Richards, a management client, actor, producer and social-media influencer over their Los Angeles-based CrossCheck Studios.

Business Insider had included Gruen in its list of the 19 top agents or managers representing TikTok influencers and in its list of the 24 most powerful people utilizing TikTok to change the music industry. In February 2021, Gruen and Richards cofounded CrossCheck, which Gruen says “boast[s] strategic partnerships” with Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas production company, influencers platform Influential, and Amazon and STX studios.

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws Image

This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.

The Article 8 Opt In Image

The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin Image

With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.

Removing Restrictive Covenants In New York Image

In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?

Legal Possession: What Does It Mean? Image

Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.