Avicii’s former manager, Ash Pournouri, has filed a lawsuit against the estate of the late Swedish DJ, claiming that he was defamed in the 2016 Netflix documentary Avicii: True Stories, the 2021 book Tim: The Official Biography of Avicii, and the 2024 book Avicii: The Life and Music of Tim Bergling.
Pournouri parted ways with Avicii in 2016, and a deal was allegedly inked that prohibited the DJ or his heirs from speaking about their partnership or the details of the separation. But the documentary and the books delve deep into the manner, and creates what Pournouri sees as a highly distorted picture.
“This has mainly been done by misrepresenting Arash Pournouri, among other things, as a person who ruthlessly pushed Tim Bergling [Avicii] to the limit and exploited his career for personal gain,” reads the filing from Stockholm District Court, which was translated into English by Billboard. “The image of Ash Pournouri portrayed in the documentary and books is completely inaccurate and amounts to character assassination.”
Avicii stepped away from touring in 2016, just two years before he died by suicide. According to the lawsuit, the documentary implies that Pournouri urged him to keep touring despite the mental health challenges he faced at the time. “Tim [Avicii] is going to die,” Pournouri says at one point in the film. “With all the interviews, radio tours and everything, he’s going to fall down dead.”
Pournouri concedes that he did use that phrasing, but it doesn’t translate properly into English. In Swedish, he claims, “he will die” merely means that a person is extremely excited.
In a post on his official Instagram page, Pournouri explains why he felt he had no choice but to file a lawsuit. “It’s the final resort,” he wrote. “Court creates disclosure, sworn testimony, and an official record. It prevents PR spin, prohibits editing for story or profit, forces documents into daylight, and results in outcomes grounded in factual reality, not mere narratives.”
He insists the legal battle has nothing to do with money. “Swedish court procedure requires a nominal damages figure to process a declaratory case,” Pournouri writes. “Legal costs are sought. Although I have suffered considerable harm, any damages awarded go directly to real charitable causes. I take nothing personally. This is about the record, no profit.”
