Swedish DJ and producer Eric Prydz has become the latest prominent artist to take legal action against Thomas St. John, a business manager with clients in sports and entertainment.
The Call On Me DJ is suing St. John in a California state court, accusing St. John of fraud and alleging the business manager stole $269,000 from the DJ.
St. John “is supposed to be trustworthy and reliable, and… should be acting in the best interests of his client. [St. John], however, proved to be none of those things,” lawyers for Prydz wrote in a complaint dated October 28, 2025.
“Instead, he is a fraud who not only abuses the trust of his clients, he takes money from them without their knowledge or authorization for his personal use and benefit.”
The complaint, which can be read in full here, says Prydz was a client of St. John’s since around 2012, and that St. John provided “standard financial services” to Prydz, including tax planning and tax filing, record keeping and touring services.
After signing a new ‘Terms of Business’ agreement with Prydz in 2023, St. John began “paying himself for services, including services that were not within the [Terms of Business] and for matters for which he did not obtain Prydz’s approval or the approval of Prydz’s manager or lawyer,” the complaint alleges.
Prydz’s manager discovered that St. John had paid himself $219,000 for services “he was never authorized to perform,” the complaint states. The manager contacted St. John and terminated the contract, and as one of his last acts for Prydz, St. John agreed to file a tax return for Prydz due on October 15.
The complaint alleges that just before the tax deadline, St. John demanded payment of $150,000 for “unapproved, out of scope” services before he filed the tax documents, a move the complaint describes as “extortion.” Prydz didn’t pay, and St. John didn’t file the tax documents, the complaint alleges.
“As a direct result of [St. John’s] malicious conduct to hold Prydz’s financial documents hostage, Prydz has been unable to complete and file the now past due tax forms.”
Legal complaint against Thomas St. John by Eric Prydz
“As a direct result of [St. John’s] malicious conduct to hold Prydz’s financial documents hostage, Prydz has been unable to complete and file the now past due tax forms,” the complaint states.
It also alleges that, after being notified that Prydz was terminating the contract, St. John withdrew $50,000 without authorization from Prydz’s accounts.
Prydz is seeking repayment of $269,000 plus punitive damages and legal and court costs.
Prydz’s lawsuit comes a few months after Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris filed an arbitration demand against St. John, alleging that the business manager had stolen $22.5 million from him through a “boondoggle” real estate project in Hollywood.
Harris alleged that the real estate project ran into trouble in 2023 and St. John fooled Harris into investing $12.5 million into the project and lending it another $10 million, and that he hasn’t seen a penny of the money since, according to a report at Billboard. The project – CMNTY Culture slated for the corner of Sunset and Highland in Hollywood – hasn’t broken ground despite more than four years of work.
Per Billboard, St. John has denied Harris’ allegations and said Harris knowingly opted into the project.
In September, PEOPLE cited a statement issued by a rep for Thomas St. John in response to the allegations, which said: “The facts speak for themselves: not a single dollar has been misappropriated, all investor entitlements remain intact, and the project continues to advance within the normal entitlement timeline.”
Harris’s legal action arrived just a few months after US-based company, Thomas St. John, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (at the end of February), according to court documents obtained by MBW in September. (Thomas St. John Inc, a US entity, is a separate company to UK-based Thomas St. John Ltd.)
Billboard reported that St. John filed his own arbitration request, against Harris’ manager Mark Gillespie, alleging that Gillespie mismanaged his company, Three Six Zero, in which, the report said, St. John holds a 5% stake.
In a statement to Billboard, Three Six Zero lawyer David Willingham called St. John’s allegations “false and malicious.”
MBW has reached out to Thomas St. John for comment.Music Business Worldwide
