THA sends pre-action protocol letters to D’Angelo

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has issued a pre-action protocol letter to Matt Ross of Eleven Entertainment Company Limited, American soul singer D’ Angelo (Michael Eugene Archer) D’Angelo, and a group acting on behalf of the singer, instituting legal proceedings to recover funds reportedly paid to for D’Angelo to perform at the 2017 Tobago Jazz Experience at Pigeon Point on April 29 last year.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, THA’s Senior Counsel, Alvin Pascal said the letters were forwarded on Wednesday via registered mail.

“Four letters were sent out as just today (Wednesday). I would have posted off a legal letter to Matt Ross, 11Entertainment Company Limited, D’Angelo and another group acting on behalf of D’Angelo. We would have given them 14 days to respond, and that the is position of the THA as we speak,” Pascal said.

At a November 2017 THA Plenary, Tourism and Culture Secretary Nadine Stewart-Phillips, responding to a question on what the THA was doing to recover the money reportedly paid to D’Angelo, said “several attempts were made through the (THA) legal department to recover monies paid to the company and no favourable feedback was received.

“The legal department was instructed to initiate legal action against Eleven Entertainment Company Limited.”

The question was asked by Farley Augustine, Minority member for Parlatuvier/L’Anse Fourmi/Speyside.

Eleven Entertainment Company Limited was contracted to procure the services of D’Angelo and other artistes on behalf of THA for the jazz festival.

Then chairman of the Jazz Festival Committee, John Arnold, had told the media on the final night of the jazz festival on April 30, 2017, at Pigeon Point, that the cost of hiring D’Angelo was $430,000, and that the down-payment was in the artiste’s possession, and that the THA had given a timeline of three months to get a refund.

Arnold told the media then that D’Angelo was unable to perform as contracted because his grandfather had died.

“Our job right now is not to search to find out if his grandfather really died, we have an agency (Ross and Eleven Entertainment) to do that on our behalf. We are just going with the information that is given to us by the agency,” he said.