Tommy Mottola Slapped With Lawsuit by Hachette

Posted on February 26, 2016

Record executive Tommy Mottola, who is best known as the Svengali-like first husband of Mariah Carey,is in big trouble. He's being sued by his book publisher. The Wrap reports that Mottola signed a book deal with Hachette Book Group and pocketed an hefty six figure advance. He took the money, but never turned in the manuscript.

In 2011, Mottola, who is the former CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, accepted $150,000 in advance money from Hachette to write a book called The Bronx School of Business. The book was supposed to detail Mottola's streetwise approach ot business that led him, a college dropout from the Bronx, to a position of power in the music industry. Mottola missed the April 2, 2012 deadline so Hachette twice sent him a contract extension with a new deadline, but he never signed and no manuscript ever appeared.

Fed up, Hachette filed suit in federal court in New York. Hachette is suing for breach of contract. It wants the advance money, plus interest, back. Mottola hasn't commented yet. These kinds of disputes happen more often than you might think. They make no sense. Why didn't he just ask Hachette to send him a ghost writer, like most celebs do? He tells the writer the story and they make it sound good. Easy. Now he's facing a federal lawsuit. Mottola is reportedly worth $200 million.