Avicii Estate Faces Lawsuit from Manager Over Character Claims

The estate of the late Swedish DJ Avicii is embroiled in legal action as it faces a lawsuit from his longtime manager, Ash Pournouri. Filed on December 16, 2023, in the Stockholm District Court, the lawsuit claims that the estate has portrayed Pournouri as a “manipulative slavedriver” in a Netflix documentary and two authorized biographies, suggesting that he contributed to the circumstances leading to Avicii’s tragic suicide in 2018.

Pournouri alleges that the estate violated the terms of a 2016 agreement which prohibited any disparaging remarks about him. The lawsuit specifies that both the documentary titled Avicii: True Stories and the biographies published after Avicii’s death—Tim: The Official Biography of Avicii in 2021 and Avicii: The Life and Music of Tim Bergling in 2024—contained misrepresentations about his professional relationship with the artist, whose real name was Tim Bergling.

According to the documents obtained by Billboard and translated by DeepL, Pournouri asserts that the estate’s characterization of him as someone who pushed Bergling to his limits is “completely inaccurate.” The lawsuit states, “This has mainly been done by misrepresenting Arash Pournouri, among other things, as a person who ruthlessly pushed Tim Bergling to the limit and exploited his career for personal gain.”

In the documentary, which featured participation from Bergling, there are claims that Pournouri pressured the DJ to continue working despite his mental health struggles. Pournouri’s legal team counters this narrative, stating, “Ash was very positive about Tim’s decision to stop touring and saw it as a much-needed and welcome turning point.”

The lawsuit also raises concerns about how Pournouri’s recorded statements were used in the documentary. A specific clip depicts him speaking in Swedish, with English subtitles suggesting he stated, “Tim is going to die.” Pournouri argues that this translation misrepresents a common Swedish idiom meant to convey intensity, rather than a literal prediction of harm.

Pournouri claims that the biographies further perpetuate this false image, as they relied on interviews with Bergling’s friends and family and documents provided by the estate itself. He contends that as a result, the public has developed an “absurd and false” narrative that he was responsible for Bergling’s death. The lawsuit emphasizes that they had no contact in the two years leading up to the tragedy, asserting, “Ash Pournouri is convinced that Tim Bergling would not have committed suicide if Ash Pournouri had still been present in his life.”

In an Instagram post accompanying the filing of the lawsuit, Pournouri expressed his intentions clearly. He stated that the aim of this legal action is to “correct an inaccurate and incomplete public narrative.” He added, “This is not an intent to attack. It’s just time to let the facts speak. Although I have suffered considerable harm, any damages awarded go directly to real charitable causes. I take nothing personally. This is about the record, not profit.”

A representative for the Avicii estate has not yet commented on the lawsuit. As the case unfolds, it raises significant questions about the portrayal of artists and their relationships in the media, particularly in the wake of tragic events.