Bankruptcy proceedings against Culture Club members dismissed

Singer Boy George and bassist Michael Craig are in debt to former drummer Jon Moss following a previous court ruling.

A trial had been due to start next year to determine the value of the Culture Club name (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

Bankruptcy proceedings brought against Culture Club singer Boy George and bassist Michael Craig by their former bandmate Jon Moss have been dismissed at a High Court hearing.

Boy George – whose real name is George O’Dowd – and Mr Craig are both in debt to Culture Club’s ex-drummer after a judge previously ordered Mr Moss should be paid £1.75 million by the band as part of a resolved legal battle over the group’s profits.

Mr Moss brought bankruptcy petitions against Boy George and Mr Craig in relation to the judge’s ruling in March, but these were dismissed at a short hearing in London on Tuesday.

Amanda Hadkiss, representing Mr Moss, told the specialist court that, following a meeting last week, creditors had approved an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) – a formal agreement which allows people to repay debts in a bid to avoid bankruptcy.

This covers the debts of Boy George and Mr Craig, as well as the band’s guitarist Roy Hay, the court was told.

The IVA requires Mr Moss to discontinue the bankruptcy proceedings, Ms Hadkiss said, and asked deputy Insolvency and Companies Court judge Stuart Frith to dismiss the petitions.

The judge said he would order their dismissal at Tuesday’s brief hearing at which no Culture Club members were present.

The hearing comes after a High Court battle between Mr Moss and his ex-bandmates over the group’s profits was resolved a week before trial.

The drummer, a founding member of the group, had previously brought legal action against Boy George, Mr Hay and Mr Craig, after allegedly being “expelled” by their manager in September 2018 after 37 years playing together.

A six-day trial was due to start in late March to determine the value of the Culture Club name, the profits made by the band since Mr Moss’s alleged expulsion, and the amount he might be entitled to receive.

But a court order issued on March 21 said that the group had agreed that a judgment should be made in favour of Mr Moss, with his ex-bandmates required to pay him £1.75 million immediately.

The order approved by Mrs Justice Joanna Smith said that Mr Moss had agreed to “relinquish” any right to the Culture Club name and its use, including in connection with concerts and merchandise.

The High Court previously heard that the band had settled a dispute over whether there was a “continuing partnership” since the formation of Culture Club – a group best known for hits including Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and Karma Chameleon – with Boy George, Mr Hay and Mr Craig conceding there was until Mr Moss’s departure.

The abandoned trial over the outstanding issues of the group’s value and profits was also due to cover Mr Moss’s additional claim to an “outstanding balance” of 246,000.17 US dollars (£201,000) under the terms of a band agreement reached over the operation of its 2018 Life Tour.

Boy George, Mr Craig and Mr Hay were all previously defending the claims.

Last year, the court was told that Mr Moss was amending his legal challenge to include allegations that Boy George “conspired to defraud” him over the Life Tour money, after he learned that funds were released to a US company, You Give Me Life (YGML), following the settlement of legal proceedings in America in January 2021.

YGML and another English company, Other Places Drama (OPD) – both said to be Boy George’s personal service companies – had brought proceedings against Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) in California, claiming to be entitled to the money it held.

Mr Moss had originally launched litigation seeking a court declaration that the outstanding balance money was being held for him by APA, acting as his agent.

The drummer claimed that Boy George, YGML and/or OPD, were allegedly in breach of the “deal memo” that he said meant each band member would receive a fee of 600,000 US dollars (£491,000) for up to 80 concerts on the Life Tour.

Boy George previously accused Mr Moss of making a “personal attack on me” and “the most unfounded and hurtful allegations”, which were “entirely untrue”.