LOS ANGELES — Pop star and actress Selena Gomez is fighting back against a high-stakes lawsuit accusing her and her business partners of duping investors.
Gomez, her mother Mandy Teefey, and Daniella Pierson co-founded the mental health platform Wondermind in November 2021. Now, investment groups Wondermind SRS 44 LLC and Bespoke Wondermind SPV LLC are suing the trio. The suit, filed Thursday, alleges securities fraud, common-law fraud, and breach of contract while demanding damages and a full contract cancellation.
Gomez’s legal team quickly slammed the legal action.
”The allegations that Selena Gomez engaged in any way whatsoever in any purported ‘fraud’ or other wrongdoing are completely meritless, both factually and legally. We will vigorously defend these false allegations and indeed are filing a motion to dismiss the baseless claims against her,” litigator Mathew S. Rosengart said in a statement shared with People.
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The lawsuit paints a grim picture of Wondermind’s behind-the-scenes operations. Investors claim the founders pitched Wondermind as a mental fitness brand backed by a custom app, major ad deals, celebrity photo shoots, and cover stories. Pitch meetings allegedly highlighted Gomez as the main marketing engine, while Pierson was sold as a “$200 million executive” holding a “full slate of revenue-generating initiatives.”
Plaintiffs say those big promises turned out to be empty air.
”The partnerships did not exist. The initiatives never materialized. The app was never built,” the complaint states. “And for three years, while the company quietly collapsed around them, not one of its founders, officers or directors said a word to the investors whose money was funding the collapse.”
Pierson’s team also rejected the lawsuit’s claims, saying she looks forward to clearing her name in court.
In a statement shared with USA Today on Thursday, a representative for Pierson said she “welcomes the opportunity to present concrete documentation and financial records that establish the facts,” denying the allegations and asserting that she is an investor.
”To be clear, she has never used investor funds for personal expenses. Quite the opposite: Daniella invested her own money into the business and did not draw a salary from the company,” her rep added.
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