LOS ANGELES — Marilyn Manson's former keyboardist has filed a lawsuit claiming the shock rocker owes him at least $20 million in shared profits.
The breach-of-contract suit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Stephen Bier — whose stage name was Madonna Wayne Gacy — says he, Manson and other band members signed a partnership agreement in 1993 to share profits.
The 58-page suit claims Manson and others deceived Bier that the band wasn't making much money but he began to think differently several years ago when Manson went on a spending binge.
From 2004 to 2006, the suit claims, Manson used band money to buy a $2 million home, collect Nazi paraphernalia such as swastika wall tiles and Nazi government coat hangers used by Adolf Hitler, and to give his then-fiancee a handbag once owned by Hitler's girlfriend, Eva Braun.
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Manson also bought "African masks made of human skin, the full skeleton of a 4-year-old Chinese girl, and the full skeleton of a 17th Century male in a wheelchair," the suit claims.
In addition, the suit claims Manson spent band money on personal drug treatment, a low-budget movie production, a Los Angeles gallery to display his artwork, and about $450,000 for an engagement ring and his wedding to burlesque performer Dita Von Teese (she has since filed for divorce).
Bier contends that Manson and the band's lawyer and business managers cut off his salary payments and band credit card access and refused to pay his medical bills for work-related problems.
"Because of Manson and others' fraudulent conduct, Bier has spent almost two decades working for one of the world's most popular rock bands that has made millions of dollars in profit and now has almost nothing to show for it," the suit contended.
A call to the agent for Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, was not immediately returned Saturday.
Manson denied the lawsuit allegations, however, and said he would fight them in an interview Thursday with MTV News.
"The fact that he's claiming that I've treated him unfairly, financially, is really ridiculous," the singer said. "And I would never spend my money on a Chinese girl skeleton. That would be crossing the line. It's a Chinese boy, for the record."
"It just seems like another ex-band member suing me and trying to assassinate my personality as a means to financial gain," he said.
