Coldplay counter-sue former manager Dave Holmes for over £14million

nme.com:

Coldplay are counter-suing their former manager, Dave Holmes, just under two months after he sued them over a contractual dispute.According to The Times, the band claim Holmes owes them damages of over £14million and allege that he took out two loans from Live Nation that they had no knowledge of.They claim that Holmes borrowed $20million (£16.3million) from the promoter in 2015 at an interest rate of 2.72 per cent a year before allegedly taking out a second loan of $10million in 2018 (£8.1million) at the same interest rate.“To the best of [our] knowledge . . .

Mr Holmes used monies obtained by the loan agreements to fund a property development venture in or around Vancouver, Canada,” say the band in their filing at the High Court in London.

They add that they believe this Vancouver deal was “profitable”.“It is to be inferred,” continues the claim, “that Mr Holmes was only able to acquire loans totalling $30 million at a fixed annual interest rate of 2.72 per cent from Live Nation by virtue of his position as Coldplay’s manager.”The filing goes on to mention that Holmes owing $27.1million to Live Nation would have “potentially or actually [conflicted]” with his obligations to secure the best possible relations with the promoter when he was negotiating with them over Coldplay’s 2021 ‘Music Of The Spheres’ world tour.It adds that Holmes had a “personal interest in maintaining the best possible relations with Live Nation in order to ensure he would have leverage in the event that he required any form of indulgence by reference to the loan terms”.Live Nation said in a statement that it “has a strong and longstanding relationship with Coldplay”.