Hitmaking Producer In Financial Bind
The Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH - Teddy Riley, who has produced albums for Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, 'Nsync and other acts, filed for protection from creditors in bankruptcy court.
The 34-year-old R&B recording artist hopes to reorganize his finances under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law.
Riley's bankruptcy attorney, Michael Lehman, said Riley didn't have enough money to pay mounting income tax liabilities.
The filing shows Riley owes $1.45 million in federal income taxes from 1998-2001 and $243,855 in Virginia taxes for 1996-98 and 2001. He also owes Virginia Beach $35,417 in real estate taxes.
Riley listed his total liabilities at $3.67 million, while claiming assets of $2.4 million, including $1.97 million worth of property in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
He moved to Virginia Beach in 1990 from Harlem in New York City. He won Grammys in 1992 for producing Jackson's "Dangerous" album and in 1996 for the song "No Diggity" by his group Blackstreet, which broke up in 1999.
"As a result of the downturn in the music industry and having not been able to produce a successful record of late, my income dropped precipitously," Riley said in an affidavit filed with the bankruptcy court. "Consequently, I am unable to meet my substantial liabilities."
Riley filed for bankruptcy April 4 in New York City because all his business advisors were there, Lehman said. The judge handling the case questioned why it wasn't filed where Riley lived, Lehman said, and on July 8 transferred the case to Norfolk's U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.