Todd Jeremy Mandel: Divorce, Lawsuit, and Catalog Sale

Todd Jeremy Mandel is the ex-husband and former manager of singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, whose legal name is Holly Brook Hafermann. Their 2017 divorce and the federal lawsuit Mandel filed afterward stretched into 2021 and ended with Grey selling her entire song catalog, including her credits on “Love the Way You Lie” and “I Need a Doctor,” to pay the settlement.¹

How Mandel and Grey Were Connected

Mandel and Hafermann met in 2009 and began living together in Park City, Utah. She hired him as her manager in 2010, and they married in November 2012. The personal and professional sides of the relationship were tightly braided. They jointly owned two limited liability companies, Thunder Bay Touring and Psycho Killer Music, with Mandel holding 40% and Hafermann 60%. Mandel also ran his own entity, Mandel Music Group.²

The marriage broke down between late 2016 and mid-2017, when Hafermann began a relationship with Elliott Taylor and, in May 2017, moved from Utah to St. Helena, California, to live with him. She filed for divorce on June 12, 2017. A settlement was reached in Salt Lake City on September 26, 2017, and the Utah court entered the divorce decree on November 6, 2017.³

The Restraining Order

Weeks after the divorce decree, on December 15, 2017, Grey obtained a temporary restraining order against Mandel, who was then 42.⁴ Her filings alleged that Mandel told her he had been stalking, following, and monitoring her and her boyfriend. She said he had installed hidden cameras and recording devices in her apartment and had hired a private investigator and multiple attorneys to track her and Taylor.⁵

Grey also alleged that Mandel held screenshots of her private messages and photos he should not have had, and that he had threatened to physically hurt her within two hours. Her assistant, Vanessa Ostovich, submitted a statement backing the surveillance claims, saying Mandel had told them he was watching and listening at all times. The judge ordered Mandel to stay at least 100 yards from Grey, Taylor, and Ostovich and to have no contact with them, with a follow-up hearing set for January 8, 2018. The available reporting does not indicate whether the order was later made permanent.⁴

Mandel’s Federal Lawsuit

Mandel then went on the offensive. He filed a sweeping civil case originally in Utah state court that was removed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah in August 2019. The suit named five defendants: Hafermann, Taylor, Ostovich, entertainment attorney Paul Rothenberg, and Rothenberg’s law firm. The complaint ran more than a dozen causes of action, including defamation, false light, alienation of affections, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, wrongful discharge, conversion, intentional interference with economic relations, and conspiracy.⁶

In June 2020, the case was transferred to the Northern District of California, where the defendants lived. The court noted that although Mandel claimed domicile in Utah or Tennessee, his primary residence was Nashville.⁶

On November 30, 2020, the California court dismissed most of Mandel’s claims. The defamation claims, built on Grey’s stalking and surveillance allegations in her restraining-order filings, were thrown out. One claim survived: alienation of affections against Taylor. Alienation of affections is an older common-law tort still recognized in a handful of states, including Utah, that allows a spouse to sue a third party for conduct alleged to have destroyed the marriage. The court applied Utah law because the couple had been domiciled there, rejected Taylor’s argument that Utah should no longer recognize the tort, and found Mandel had alleged enough facts to proceed past the motion-to-dismiss stage.³

The Claims Against the Shared Attorney

A separate strand targeted Paul Rothenberg, who had represented both Mandel and Hafermann as well as their jointly held businesses. Mandel alleged that Rothenberg conspired with the other defendants to retaliate against him for refusing to renegotiate his management salary as part of the divorce. He claimed Rothenberg directed Hafermann to file the restraining order, provided false information that Mandel had threatened to murder Hafermann and Taylor, and leaked the TRO proceeding to TMZ to justify firing Mandel and damage his reputation. Mandel brought eight causes of action against Rothenberg, including defamation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and conspiracy. The court analyzed them under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which protects speech and petitioning activity tied to litigation, found that the communications at issue qualified as protected activity, and granted the motion to strike in part and denied it in part.⁷

The Settlement and the Catalog Sale

The combined divorce and litigation ran from 2017 into 2021. Grey described the experience as “wrecking me emotionally and financially,” saying she was constantly on the phone with lawyers and paying mounting legal bills.¹

When the matter settled in 2021, Grey said she had to sell her entire music catalog to afford the terms. That catalog included “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem featuring Rihanna, “I Need a Doctor” by Dr. Dre featuring Eminem, “Coming Home” by Diddy, and “Clarity” by Zedd featuring Foxes.⁸¹⁹ She called the sale her “only option” to end the litigation.

1
People. Songwriter Skylar Grey Sold Her Entire Song Catalog to Pay for Divorce
2
vLex. Mandel v. Hafermann, 503 F. Supp. 3d 946
3
Reason. Alienation of Affections Case Involving Songwriter Skylar Grey Going Forward
4
People. Skylar Grey Granted Temporary Restraining Order Against Ex-Husband
5
NY Daily News. Eminem’s Co-Writer Skylar Grey Gets Restraining Order Against Ex-Husband
6
GovInfo. Mandel v. Hafermann, Transfer Order
7
CASP. Mandel v. Hafermann, 503 F. Supp. 3d 946
8
XXL Magazine. Skylar Grey Sells Rights to Eminem and Dr. Dre Songs to Pay for Divorce
9
Uproxx. Skylar Grey Sells Rights to Eminem Collaborations to Pay for Divorce