The structure of the company which holds the rights to Michael Hutchence’s unreleased music has been revealed, with leaked documents showing the use of a tax haven to enable the “commercial exploitation of the sound recordings, images, films and related materials embodying the performance” of the late INXS singer.
Information leaked as part of the massive Paradise Papers data-dump has revealed that Hutchence’s lawyer Colin Diamond, who took possession of many of the musician’s personal effects in the days after his death, established a company named Helipad Plain in the nation of Mauritius.
Helipad Plain’s stated purpose was to make money from Hutchence’s unreleased intellectual property, and it appears there is quite a lot of it.
Ron Creevey, a former partner in Helipad Plain, reportedly used another of his businesses to offer potential buyers a list of potential Hutchence assets including 15 never-before-heard songs, a digitally remastered solo album, and majority rights to Hutchence-centric film The Loved One.
That same so-called “prospectus” said $1.25M had already been earned from documentary rights.
Creevey now claims otherwise, telling Four Corners that information was incorrect. Channel 7, which recently aired a documentary on Hutchence to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his death, claims they had been in contact with Creevey but never exchanged money for the rights to the content.
That being said, Channel 7 did agree to highlight the unreleased Diamond-owned music in the documentary, which also featured an interview with Diamond himself.
The apparent make-up of Helipad Plain and its intended purpose to extract value from Hutchence’s estate has been criticised by his surviving family members.
Speaking to Four Corners, Rhett Hutchence said his brother’s will called for 50% of future proceeds to go to his daughter Tiger Lily Hutchence, with the remaining 50% split between other family members.
While Diamond was named executor of Hutchence’s will before his death, there is no mention of Tiger Lily in the leaked documents. An email asserting Diamond as the sole owner of Hutchence’s intellectual material also fails to mention his daughter.
Speaking to Four Corners, Creevey said that he was no longer involved with Helipad Plain, but understood Diamond was “well disposed” to Tiger Lily. That being said, how much money has actually made its way to Tiger Lily remains unknown.
Diamond and representatives of Tiger Lily have not responded to requests for comment from the ABC or The Guardian.
