Selena Gomez's team files motion to dismiss fraud lawsuit
Selena Gomez's legal team has asked the court to dismiss the fraud lawsuit filed against her regarding her mental health start-up, Wondermind, saying the claims about her "are completely meritless if not frivolous."
According to court documents obtained by international outlets PEOPLE Magazine and TMZ, Gomez’s litigator Mathew Rosengart filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs’ vague and contradictory claims showed Gomez could not have committed fraud, was not liable, and should be dismissed from the lawsuit.
“Ms. Gomez agreed to support her mother Mandy Teefey, who co-founded Wondermind... Although she invested in and holds a minority stake in the Company, Ms. Gomez never agreed to and did not manage the Company,” Rosengart said in the motion.
“Management was vested in Ms. Gomez’s mother, Mandy Teefey, and Ms. Pierson, who ran the Company as co-CEOs and board members. The Company, in turn, retained Ms. Gomez as a consultant and conferred on her the title of Chief Impact Officer ('CIO')," it added.
Rosengart further stressed that the claims against the actress-singer "are completely meritless if not frivolous."
"Today’s motion to dismiss demonstrates that plaintiffs never should have dragged Selena Gomez into this case as the claims against her are completely meritless if not frivolous," he said. "The notion that Selena engaged in ‘fraud’ or any other wrongdoing is absurd—and in addition to filing our motion we are exploring other avenues of relief for Ms. Gomez including sanctions against plaintiffs for improperly including her.”
Fraud allegations
The investors alleged in their lawsuit that they invested nearly $1.2 million (P73.98 million) in the mental health company, founded in 2022, but were unaware the business had “quietly collapsed around them.”
They said they only learned about Wondermind’s financial struggles last fall after reading a report in The Cut, which included allegations from anonymous former employees who questioned Teefey’s ability to serve as CEO.
As reported by Forbes in May last year, Wondermind had been in a crisis after "apparently running out of cash and failing to pay its employees," resulting in two-thirds of its staff being laid off.
The lawsuit further argued that Gomez and other company leaders failed to deliver on promises, including creating a mobile app.
"Gomez purported to sign a contract obligating her to perform and then ignored it," the lawsuit said. "There was no legitimate enterprise in the works, much less a lucrative one," the plaintiffs added, saying that the company failed to meet "even its most basic obligations, such as timely paying its employees and vendors."
Gomez's legal team has previously denied the allegations, saying that the allegations "are completely meritless, both factually and legally."
Wondermind was launched in 2021 to help users strengthen their "mental fitness." Gomez had co-founded it together with her mother, Teefey, and their former business partner Daniella Pierson.
