Grammy-nominated Latin music superstar Romeo Santos is suing his accounting and business management firm, claiming more than $2 million in losses.
In a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court, Santos alleges the firm Morrison Brown Argiz & Farra LLP, now known as BDO, failed to file his complex, multi-state tax returns correctly and let his large cash balance sit idle in his checking account, “earning nothing.”
In his complaint alleging malpractice and gross negligence, he says the firm erroneously reported him as a full-year non-resident of New York on his 2021 tax return, triggering an audit. He claims the return filed on his behalf was not “merely aggressive; it was incoherent,” disregarding his part-year residency in New York, but apportioning a quarter of his W-2 income that year to the state, “a figure supported by no work papers and no analysis.”
“BDO thus erred in both directions at once: omitting the New York income the law required and asserting New York income the facts did not support,” the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone reads. He claims the firm also purchased a duplicate workers’ compensation insurance policy for him that wasn’t necessary and kept him on an expensive private health insurance policy even though he was eligible for superior SAG-AFTRA health coverage at a lower price.
He claims the firm also failed to fund his IRA and debited funds from a Santos account without authorization following its termination.
Representatives for BDO did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Rolling Stone.
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“As a direct and proximate result of BDO’s professional malpractice and negligence, Plaintiffs have suffered damages, including but not limited to tax penalties and interest, professional fees incurred to investigate and remediate BDO’s errors, the cost of the unauthorized debit, and lost value associated with mismanaged cash, insurance, and retirement accounts, in an amount to be proven at trial but no less than $2.3 million,” the new lawsuit filed by his lawyer, James Sammataro of the firm Pryor Cashman, states.
Santos, 45, is demanding a jury trial. The Bronx-born singer was nominated for Best Tropical Album for his 2011 solo debut, Formula, Vol. 1. He won Best Merengue/Bachata Album for Fórmula, Vol. 3 at the 2023 Latin Grammys.
