Rita Ora is facing a £3.2 million legal battle with her former manager after the music executive lodged papers at the High Court claiming millions in unpaid commission.
Sarah Stennett, the music powerhouse who signed Ora in 2009 and helped turn her into a star, parted ways with the singer in 2024 in what initially appeared to be an amicable split. That relationship has now turned remarkably sour, with Stennett's firm FAE Ventures claiming the bill stands at a minimum of £3.2 million.
The court documents allege that Ora violated the terms of her contract by failing to hand over a cut of her earnings from tours and television work. The biggest chunk of the alleged underpayments stands at just over £1.7 million, with Stennett's firm claiming there were impermissible deductions for professional services including advertising, accountancy and insurance.
The claim goes further. Stennett's firm alleges that Ora hid more than £1.1 million by unreporting touring income between spring 2019 and 2020, while she was on her Phoenix World Tour, which included seven UK arena shows and a night at London's O2 Arena. The paperwork states that commission payments to FAE failed to take account of certain touring income which the defendant had received, or which was received on her behalf, during that period.
The documents also suggest that up to £6 million made from those concerts went missing from the statements provided to the management firm. Ora's television work has also come under scrutiny, with Stennett's firm claiming the singer misrepresented her income while working as a judge on The Masked Singer.
The documents claim that commission payments to FAE failed to take account of certain touring income which the defendant had received, or which was received on her behalf, during the Phoenix World Tour period. The singer's television earnings, including her stint as a judge on The Masked Singer, are also under the microscope, with the claim suggesting she misrepresented income from the show.
Neither Ora nor her representatives had publicly responded to the claims at the time of reporting. The case is the latest in a string of high-profile disputes between artists and their former managers over commission and accounting, and is expected to be contested in the High Court.
Stennett remains one of the most influential figures in the British music industry, and the scale of the claim, spanning touring, television and alleged hidden income, means the case is likely to attract significant attention as it progresses through the courts.