Thomas St. John allegedly convinced Calvin Harris to invest $22.5 million into a real estate investment lawyers call “at worst, a complete fraud.”
Calvin Harris has taken his former financial advisor, Thomas St. John, to court, alleging that the he misled him into a $22.5 million investment that has left him with “no idea what exactly happened” to his money.
According to Los Angeles Superior Court documents filed on September 12, Calvin Harris (real name Adam Wiles) has been in arbitration with St. John since June. Upon filing a temporary injunction, the globetrotting Scottish DJ and producer has made the details of the proceedings publicly accessible, revealing that he’s accused his advisor of ten years of grievances like fraud, malpractice, and breach of contract.
Wiles alleges that St. John approached him about the investment opportunity in 2023, a 2021 Hollywood land purchase for which development funds had run dry. St. John allegedly asked for $10 million as a loan and $12.5 million in return for equity in the venture, a 460,000-square-foot space with studios and lounges called CMNTY Culture Campus.
St. John allegedly brokered the deal with simple DocuSign forms, and then shortly thereafter, he transferred a reported $11.7 million to his own company, Dun & Dun LLC. The scope of the project has also significantly changed. St. John’s goal is now to develop the space into residential units, according to Wiles’ lawyers, who have called the deal “at best, a complete boondoggle, and, at worst, a complete fraud.”
Wiles is not the only person allegedly owed money by St. John. In April, he declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, owing some $11 million to a list of creditors that includes firms like Klar Consulting LLC and Jackson Lewis P.C. as well as the the recording artist Philip M. Lawrence.
St. John’s lawyer, Sasha Frid, has said that her client “denies any wrongdoing,” asserting that Wiles “actively pursued” their deal. “Unhappy with the pace of the project, he chose to pursue private arbitration to assert his discontent,” she said. “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.”
It remains to be seen whether Calvin Harris’ dispute with Thomas St. John can be resolved through arbitration or will result in the filing of a lawsuit.
