James Reid on terminating Jeffrey Oh from Careless Music: 'It turns out he wasn't the person he said he was'
James Reid revealed that Jeffrey Oh, his former partner in his talent agency Careless Music, "tricked" and owed him more than P100 million and had other liabilities from other companies.
In an interview with Ogie Diaz, James said he had no idea about this incident as Jeffrey always told him everything was fine and would let him know if anything was happening.
"I had no idea a lot of this was happening, it was actually happening for months and had kept me separate from the rest of my team, kept me in the dark about all of these business dealings telling me, 'Oh nothing's happening, I'll let you know,'" the actor-singer said.
"I finally met with an attorney (Rodel de Guzman) and explained to him all of the business dealings that I had with him and all the relationship I had with Jeff, how much money he owed me, the contracts that he never gave me," he told Diaz.
James also said that the incident started when Oh was apprehended and held by the Bureau of Immigration for lacking legal paperwork and work permits in the Philippines.
Due to the immigration issue, James solicited de Guzman's aid to ascertain what went wrong and requested his legal counsel to audit his firm.
"Bandang August 2023, nag-umpisa, naglabas kami ng audit findings, pinaliwanag namin kaharap si Jeffrey Oh," the attorney said.
He added, "Marami pang posibleng maging problema pa ang kompanya pero ang pinakamalaking nakita namin is kulang ang papeles ni Jefrrey Oh para mag-trabaho dito sa Pilipinas."
After their discussion, the attorney recommended terminating Jeff following closures on their contract and deals. However, the latter left and "tricked" James.
"Ang naging reminder ko nga kay James, ang Careless ay iisa lang ang rehistradong may-ari kundi si James Reid lang, so kung ano man maging problema ng kumpanya at tauhan niya, siya ang madadawit. Kaya napag-usapan na namin na dapat pormal na alisin si Jefrrey Oh para alam ng publiko na wala nang relasyon si Jeffrey Oh doon sa mga kumpanya," de Guzman explained.
James chided, "Finally when all of that came out, his official recommendation to terminate him, give him a chance to sign those contracts and make those deals right. And then he left, so he tricked me. I've been working with him for a very long time and it turns out he wasn't the person he said he was."
In a public notice, which took effect last July 2, the talent agency formalized the termination of Jeff from James' company.
"This is to put the public on notice that effective as of July 2, 2024, Jeffrey Hwamok Oh, had ceased all official connections with Careless Holdings Ltd., Careless Music Manila, Inc., Careless Productions OPC, Island City Music PH OPC, Premiere Private Label Inc."
The notice continued, "Corollarilly, Mr. Oh no longer has any authority to represent the Careless Group or its officers in any ongoing and future transactions, receive, or dispense any funds or other investments for and on behalf of Careless Group, and/or sign any official documentation and/or correspondences on behalf of the same group."
On Liza Soberano leaving Careless
Meanwhile, James highlighted that Liza Soberano personally decided to leave the talent agency, emphasizing that they have different career paths. Hence, it didn't really make sense for both of them.
"Siya ang umalis, it's with our agreement with Liza na we have a clause, termination for convenience, so she can leave anytime," he said.
He added, "Actually I [think] mas focus siya sa career sa L.A., kami mas focus sa Philippines, with my music career. I'm going back to acting so we had different career paths I think and she has her own co-management sa L.A., Transparent Arts and she's really focuses there so it didn't really make sense for us."
James went on to commend Liza's creativity, ambition, and business-mindedness, which makes him feel great working with the latter.
"We wish her all the best with her career in L.A. with all of her international projects, everything she's doing and you know I just wanted her to know na may babalikan siya dito sa Pilipinas," James implied.
In case you missed it, Careless confirmed the news on Saturday, Sept. 14, in an Instagram story, saying the actress had not been with them since July 29.
It has been a pleasure to have represented her and we wish her all the best in all of her endeavors," the statement read.
This comes over two years after Liza officially became part of Careless. She joined the management in June 2022.
Before Careless, Liza was under the care of talent manager Ogie Diaz for 11 years.
