Former Avicii Manager Ash Pournouri Files Lawsuit “to Set the Record Straight”

Ash Pournouri has filed a lawsuit he’s threatened for months over narratives surrounding his management of the late Avicii.

Ash Pournouri, former manager of Avicii, took to social media in March to share that he planned to take legal action over narratives surrounding his role in the late EDM superstar’s burnout. Now, he says, a lawsuit has officially been filed.

“Today I have, together with Nord Advokater and leading King’s Counsel Zafar Ali and Kartik Sharma … initiated legal proceedings in the Swedish courts, solely to set the factual record straight,” wrote Pournouri in social media carousel posts. He noted that his purpose is “not to seek financial compensation” and that he simply wants to “correct an inaccurate and incomplete public narrative” concerning his management of Avicii (real name Tim Bergling).

Pournouri’s statement did not describe the narrative in question, but he has previously taken issue with how he was portrayed in the 2017 documentary Avicii: True Stories. In a July 2021 interview, he argued that the film incorrectly made it seem like he pressured Bergling to continue touring while he was unwell.

And while Pournouri hasn’t publicly named the defendant of the newly opened civil case, he has stated that he wants better stewardship standards surrounding “charity” messaging. This indirectly implies that he’s taking aim at the Tim Bergling Foundation, which was founded by Bergling’s parents, Klas Bergling and Anki Lidén, in 2019. He insists that he’s not attacking the family, but that “some of what comes out will be uncomfortable.”

Apparently, that could include “hours of unedited recordings” if his calls for accountability are met with “more denial.” Pournouri wrote, “I’m holding them back — not as leverage, but because I know what public destruction feels like. I won’t do to others what was done to me.”

According to Ash Pournouri’s statement, after covering court costs, he’ll donate any amount won in damages to “real charitable causes.”