Calvin Harris is taking legal action against his longtime financial adviser for allegedly duping him into investing $22.5 million in a doomed real estate project “to simply steal” funds from the star DJ.
The allegations are revealed in new court documents filed Friday (Sept. 12) by Harris (Adam Wiles) against Thomas St. John, the Scottish music producer’s financial adviser of over a decade. Harris filed a petition to enforce a temporary injunction in his ongoing arbitration against St. John, and in the process, publicized the details of that private arbitration, which has been taking place behind closed doors since June.
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Harris’ June 28 arbitration demand, obtained by Billboard, levels more than a dozen civil claims against St. John and a group of alleged co-conspirators, including breach of contract, fraud and malpractice.
“Out of necessity, Mr. Wiles surrounds himself with professionals, including TSJ, in whom Mr. Wiles placed his trust to ensure his earnings are protected, his investments are smart, and his family and future are secure,” reads the arbitration demand. “However, instead of acting in Mr. Wiles’s best interests, TSJ and the other respondents completely and absolutely breached that trust.”
According to the documents, St. John bought a tract of land in Hollywood in 2021 with plans to develop a recording studio and creative office space. Harris says St. John later became strapped for cash and took advantage of their relationship to sign $22.5 million over to the project in the DJ’s name in 2023.
Of this $22.5 million investment, $10 million was in the form of a loan, which St. John allegedly never paid back. The other $12.5 million was an equity stake in the real estate project — but Harris says this investment “has been, at best, a complete boondoggle, and, at worst, a complete fraud.”
“Mr. Wiles has not received a single penny in return for that investment, and, indeed, respondents have not even started developing or building the project,” reads the arbitration demand. “In fact, shortly after Mr. Wiles purportedly made this $12.5 million investment, TSJ … distributed over $11 million dollars to himself.”
Harris says he has “no idea what exactly happened” with his money. According to the petition, St. John has since shifted the focus of his real estate project away from a recording studio and toward a residential development.
In early August, retired judge Michael R. Wilner was appointed to oversee the dispute as an arbitrator. Harris and St. John agreed on a temporary injunction that freezes certain assets while the matter is litigated, leading Harris to file the court petition on Friday seeking to confirm and enforce this injunction.
A lawyer for St. John, Sasha Frid, says in a statement provided to Billboard on Monday (Sept. 15) that his client “denies any wrongdoing” and that Harris “actively pursued” an investment in the Hollywood real estate project.
“Unhappy with the pace of the project, he chose to pursue private arbitration to assert his discontent,” says Frid. “It’s no secret that due to interest rates and other market factors real estate projects are taking longer to build. But the development is very much viable and expected to have a $900+ million valuation when completed.”
Reps for Harris did not immediately return a request for comment.