A lawsuit filed by Deep Purple members against the group's former accountant maintains that Shanker Rao made off with about $5 million dollars that rightfully belongs to them. A UK court has frozen Rao's assets after he admitted he had borrowed, as he put it, money from the band's account. Discovery that the money was missing was apparently the result of an audit conducted after former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore file a suit in 2016 contending that he was owed close to $1 million in unpaid royalties. Rao admits to having helped himself to about 1/2 of the money the group claims he took, but says he planned to reimburse the account.
TheTimes.co.uk HenneMusic.com
