A modern iteration of Grammy-winning band The Kingston Trio is suing a Los Angeles music attorney for fraud, saying he lied about having an “inside track” to book the folk group at the Greek Theatre last summer.
The lawsuit was filed in California federal court on Friday (May 9) by Trident Concert Productions LLC, a concert promotion company for the lineup that performs as The Kingston Trio following the death of all the legendary folk band’s original members.
The new Kingston Trio claims it retained music lawyer David A. Helfant back in 2023 to help the group secure concert dates at Los Angeles’ famed Greek Theatre the following summer. According to the lawsuit, Helfant promised that he had an “inside track” for booking acts at the venue.
“Helfant did not have expertise or the inside track or any superior knowledge about how to secure concert dates at the Greek Theater,” writes the group’s current attorney, Konrad L. Trope. “Instead, Helfant created an overinflated bill, along with convincing Trident that it needed to retain a former Greek Theatergeneral manager who could provide inside access.”
The group claims Helfant fraudulently convinced them to pay a hefty $650 per hour billing rate, plus $10,000 to a consultant who supposedly could help “grease the wheels” at the Greek Theatre.
In reality, says The Kingston Trio, neither Helfant nor his consultant had any “inside track.” But that didn’t even matter; according to the group, the Greek Theatre actually has a transparent booking protocol that allows anybody to bid for dates online.
The group was eventually able to secure two August 2024 dates at the Greek Theater using this public bidding system. But the group claims Helfant’s misdeeds delayed the booking process significantly, giving them only seven months to promote the shows.
“Helfant did not help, but rather hindered plaintiff’s efforts,” the lawsuit says.
To make matters worse, the group claims Helfant also spent precious hours pitching his other clients to work as cinematographers on a concert documentary that was to be filmed during the shows, but the pitches lacked proper disclosures about the regulations around private film investors, the lawsuit alleges.
The Kingston Trio is suing Helfant for breach of contract and fraud and asking for at least $250,000 in damages.
Reached for comment on Monday (May 12), Helfant tells Billboard that the allegations in the lawsuit are “are completely without merit.”
“I am confident that when the facts come to light in this action, I will prevail,” says Helfant.
The Kingston Trio, established by Bob Shane, Dave Guard and Nick Reynolds in San Francisco in the 1950s, charted 17 folk songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and won two Grammy Awards for its No. 1 hit, “Tom Dooley.”
All three original members of The Kingston Trio have died, with Shane the last to pass away in 2020. The group continues to perform under a new lineup that’s currently made up of Mike Marvin, Tim Gorelangton and Buddy Woodward.
