UK Publisher To File Defence In Bounty Killer Lawsuit Over J$60 Million In Unpaid Royalties
UK publisher Othman Mukhlis through his company Jamdown Music Limited has made a formal request for legal proceedings to be frozen in the lawsuit that dancehall star Bounty Killer has filed in the High Court of Justice in London, United Kingdom to retrieve unpaid royalties.
“They sent a letter asking for proceedings to be frozen so they can negotiate,” Bounty Killer’s former manager, Julian Jones-Griffith, told DancehallMag.
Bounty Killer is trying to retrieve more than £325,000 (J$60 million) in unpaid royalties from Othman Mukhlis through his company Jamdown Music Limited. The suit suggests that Mukhlis and his company collected the royalties for the deejay since 2002, however, the sum was reportedly never handed over to the artist.
Attorney-at-law Mike Shepherd, a partner of Cadence Solicitors LLP in London, England, who represents Bounty Killer, told DancehallMag that today is the deadline for Mukhlis’ legal team to file a defense.
“Tings a kuum up to bump,” Bounty Killer wrote on Instagram, in reaction to news reports about the lawsuit.
The missing money had been discovered by Bounty’s former manager Julian Jones-Griffith, who brought it to the entertainer’s attention. Bounty, whose real name is Rodney Basil Price, quickly retained lawyers in the US and UK, who investigated the matter and found statements and payments for over £325,000 that were never paid to him.
According to the court document, Mukhlis “acknowledged that sums were due to Mr Price and transferred him the sum of £8,477.”
“Mr Price received $10,171.99 (the “Part page 4 of 8 Payment”). It is not known whether this sum was said to be in respect of the Agreed Royalties or the publisher’s share.”
Mukhlis is known in the entertainment circle in Jamaica via his music publishing company Abood Music and is thought to have multiple other clients on the island.
Bounty has also claimed in the lawsuit that when agreeing to allow Mukhlis to collect his royalties for a 15% commission, Mukhlis made a “fraudulent misrepresentation” which means that, according to him, the agreement should be rescinded.
“Mr Mukhlis represented to Mr Price that Mr Price would be obliged to pay withholding tax of 30% on sums paid directly to him by PPL and PRS in respect of performance royalties and writer’s royalties,” the lawsuit noted.
“Withholding tax is not payable in the country in which an artist is resident. Accordingly, in the case of Mr Price, no tax would be withheld on royalties collected in Jamaica, where he is resident.”
In addition to the agreement being rescinded for fraudulent misrepresentation, the lawsuit is also seeking an order from the UK High Court that Mukhlis and Jamdown fully account and pay to Bounty all the royalties they collected but did not pay him, plus interest over the 20 year period and legal costs.
The suit was filed in June 2022.
In August last year, Killer signed a new global publishing deal with Florida-based Creative Titans, in partnership with Concord Music Publishing.