Eastman & Eastman appointed as general council of Apple Corps - February 4, 1969
From BeatlesWiki
| Event | |
| Date | February 4, 1969 |
| Short description | Paul appoints Eastman & Eastman as general council of Apple Corps. |
| Location | |
Because of John's recent decision to appoint Allen Klein as manager, Paul appointed Eastman & Eastman, a company owned by his step-father, as general council of Apple Corps, meaning that while Klein looked over Apple's finances, Eastman & Eastman kept an eye on the legalities. Peter Asher recalled, "Paul reacted very negatively to Klein’s arrival. I remember him walking around the building looking scary in his black turtle-neck pullover." The first thing Klein and Eastman & Eastman debated about was the buy-out of NEMS, now called Nemperor. They were still taking 25% of The Beatles' royalties off of them, so Eastman & Eastman suggesting buying them out. Klein, however, thought they could do it for free, as Nemperor, who had recently merged with the Robert Stigwood Organization, were losing money because RSO lost their artists Cream and The Bee Gees. If this didn't work, Klein threatened to audit their books, looking for any lost wages The Beatles should have been paid. Klein had thought (although it turned out to be false) that NEMS still owed The Beatles money from back when they were still touring, and sent them a threatening letter about that. Clive Epstein, Brian's brother, responded by offloading Nemperor to Triumph Trust. Klein then sent a letter to Leonard Richenberg, the head of Triumph Trust. This did not impress Richenberg. So Klein told EMI to bypass Nemperor and pay their dues to Apple. EMI then froze all their payments, making Richenberg take this to court. He hired a private eye to look through all the unfair practices Klein had done on his artists, which made Klein only lose the case, paying more to NEMS than he had originally planned. The final deal had them buying out 10% of Nemperor, which they sold for 226,000 shares of Triumph Trust. They had also been offered NEMS' 4.5 percent of Northern Songs, a deal which they refused. They did take, however, their 23% stake in Subafilms. Nemperor also gave up their rights to The Beatles' royalties, though they did take the money EMI had stopped paying to them. They did, however, give Triumph Trust 5% of their royalties from 1972 to 1976.
