Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Katie Price bankruptcy dispute: Star’s TikTok income suspended

Must read

Katie Price’s TikTok income will be suspended as part of her ongoing bankruptcy dispute, a judge has ruled.

The decision is part of efforts to pay off money the former glamour model owes under her two bankruptcies.

A judge said on Monday that it was “appropriate” to order the “suspension of further payments” to Ms Price from the social media company while bankruptcy proceedings continue.

Ms Price is due in court on 27 August over her finances and was told to attend “no ifs or buts” by a judge earlier this month.

In February, it was ordered at a specialist bankruptcy court that Ms Price must pay 40% of her monthly income from adult entertainment website OnlyFans until February 2027.

Barristers for the trustee of her bankruptcies had previously asked for that order to be extended to cover TikTok, but the platform’s lawyers said that while it did not oppose the move, it could not consent to it due to the mechanisms of how content creators are paid.

On Monday, Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Catherine Burton said payments to Ms Price from TikTok would be suspended until a solution could be found.

Ms Price was not in attendance at the remote hearing and was not represented.

The 46-year-old was arrested at Heathrow Airport earlier this month after she failed to attend an earlier court date.

Judge Burton ordered Ms Price in February to pay the percentage of her OnlyFans income into a bank account chosen by the trustee.

In July, the order was extended to cover eight more companies from which Ms Price gained income.

At that hearing, Barrister Darragh Connell, representing the trustee, said there was a concern that “the sums of income being paid to the bankrupt will simply not be paid to the trustee”, and that 40% remained a “reasonable sum” to be paid by Ms Price.

On Monday, Mr Connell said that “while some progress has been made”, investigations were ongoing as to how TikTok could comply with the order, and instead asked the court for a hold to be put on Ms Price’s two “wallets” through which she is paid money from the platform.

He added there was a “real concern” that there could be “potentially substantial sums flowing” to Ms Price from TikTok, which the trustee would not “be in a position to easily recover” without the suspension.

Lauren Kreamer, representing TikTok, previously said in written submissions that the platform had paid Ms Price £84,000 for a three-month “agreement” in which she would “create e-commerce content for use by TikTok in its campaigns”, which had now ended.

She said that fee had been paid “along with a sum of £9,989.92 and for much smaller payments, ranging from £18.99 to £277.49”, which it was believed represented “commissions” generated by third parties making purchases through the platform.

On Monday, she told the court the company was “endeavouring to comply” with the order and that it was not attempting to be “obstructive or difficult” through the delay.

Ms Price was declared bankrupt in November 2019 and again in March this year. The second bankruptcy was over an unpaid tax bill of more than £750,000.

Latest article