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Rihanna's Former Accountant Fires Back at Lawsuit

Berdon LLP and employees blame it on the singer and her spending habits.

One of the accountants Rihanna is suing for negligence says the pop star is the one who "squandered her own money away." Paul Gounis filed documents Wednesday (March 19) refuting the 26-year-old's claims that he and the team over at New York City firm Berdon LLP are the reason why she almost went broke.

Rihanna, birth name Robyn Fenty, says Gounis and company never told her that she was nearing bankruptcy, or that her "Last Girl on Earth Tour" was losing money. So she kept spending, and ran through $9 million in a year. Gounis said Rih Rih's money struggles, particularly the "very expensive" tour, aren't his fault, maintaining that he had "no responsibility for how much money was made and/or spent."

"The tour was what she wanted, just as the exorbitant amount of expensive clothing and other purchases she squandered her money on were," reads the document.

In her 2012 lawsuit, the Bajan beauty holds the firm accountable for an IRS audit that blew the lid off the alleged financial mismanagement. She accuses Gounis's co-worker Michael Mitnick of advising her to buy a multi-million dollar mansion that she was forced to sell at a $2 million loss.

Rih's silver-screen debut in the film Battleship, which she took a break from touring to shoot, was another financial bust, one that Gounis says he has nothing to do with: "Peter Gounis did not leave the tour to go act in a movie, Fenty did," as the paperwork states.   

Gounis, Mitnick and Berdon have all filed motions to have the trial dismissed. It is currently scheduled for May 12.     

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(Photo: KCS Presse/Splash News)

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