Justin Bieber’s relationship with longtime manager Scooter Braun crumbled over money — millions of dollars Justin claimed Scooter underhandedly grabbed — but an extensive TMZ investigation indicates quite the contrary.
“TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Justin Bieber,” a brand-new documentary from TMZ, will premiere on FOX tonight at 9 PM ET, 8 Central.
According to some people with firsthand knowledge, Justin was broke after the catastrophic “Justice” tour came to a conclusion in 2022. Due to Justin’s early cancellation and the $40 million upfront advance he received, he owes AEG, the event promoter, $24 million.
Scooter’s business, Hybe, consented to settle the issue, and Justin agreed to repay Hybe over a ten-year period by signing a note. After making one installment, Justin ceased making payments.
According to our Scooter sources, Justin’s representatives called and stated that he simply lacked the funds. According to our Justin sources, Lou Taylor, Bieber’s business manager, began looking over the accounts and came to the conclusion that Scooter had received $26 million in commissions that were wildly excessive.
After conducting an internal audit, Hybe found that Justin owed Scooter $1 million and that Scooter had actually been underpaid commissions. Scooter claimed to have waived the sum, but Justin’s people believed the audit was dishonest since Hybe was only hiding something.
After that, Hybe engaged Pricewaterhouse, or PWC, as an independent auditor. Following a six-month audit that ended in April, PWC concluded that Justin owed Scooter more than $8,806,000. The PWC audit report, which TMZ has seen, includes the $8.806M amount.