NINE INCH NAILS Mainman Compares Breakup With Longtime Manager To Divorce
May 17, 2005The Associated Press is reporting that NINE INCH NAILS mainman Trent Reznor told a jury on Tuesday (May 17) that firing his longtime manager after the finances of his band deteriorated was "like a divorce."
Testifying on his 40th birthday in a civil case he brought against John Malm, the singer said he was left with little choice when he realized that the finances he had ignored for 15 years were in disarray.
"The last place I wanted to end up was sitting here right now," Reznor said from the witness stand in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. "This is like a divorce."
Under questioning by Malm's lawyer, Alan Hirth, Reznor admitted that he wrote a letter in the 1990s in which he said Malm would be his manager "until he chooses not to do so."
Reznor testified Monday that he had as little as $400,000 in cash in 2003 after hundreds of thousands a dollars annually were lost on unnecessary expenses.
Reznor also contends that Malm duped him into signing a contract that allowed the former manager to collect 20 percent of the singer's gross earnings rather than net earnings. He's seeking unspecified damages.
Hirth elicited through his questioning of Reznor that the singer was actively involved in many of the band's business dealings but sometimes chose not to read contracts and financial information before signing documents.
NINE INCH NAILS' latest single, "The Hand That Feeds", is No. 2 on Billboard's Top 20 list of modern rock tracks.
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