Pharrell Sued by Chad Hugo for Allegedly Withholding Neptunes Money

Pharrell Williams is facing a new lawsuit from his former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo — and it contains some very serious charges of financial impropriety.

Hugo's complaint, reviewed by Complex, was filed in federal court in California on Friday (Jan. 23). Hugo, who in the suit refers to his role in the Neptunes partnership as the "principal composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and producer responsible for programming, instrumentation, and overall sound design," is suing Williams for, he says, withholding money from him, as well as not providing proper accounting of their company's funds.

Hugo and Williams met in Virginia Beach around the late 1980s and, per the complaint, began working together as the Neptunes in the early '90s. They had a huge string of hits, both as producers and as the group N.E.R.D. with third member Sheldon “Shay” Haley.

The heart of Hugo's issues with Pharrell deals with N.E.R.D. Music, LLC, a company they formed in 2014. Hugo's suit claims that it was Pharrell's sole responsibility to provide information about income, expenses, royalties, and other financial issues, but that he failed to do so. Under the terms of the company, Williams gets half of the money from "touring and other income," while Hugo and Haley each get 25%. The "merchandising and trademark income" is divided equally among the three members.

Hugo claims he has been trying since 2021 to get access to the company's financial records from Williams, with almost no success. He says that he "has not received his appropriate share of royalties in connection with The Neptunes and N.E.R.D.’s album sales and released music, as well as distributions from touring income, and various merchandising deals." As evidence, Hugo claims that "a significant number of songs are missing from [Hugo's] label portals and SoundExchange portals indicating that Plaintiff has not received the royalties he is entitled to."

As one example, Hugo estimates that he's owed at least $325,000, and perhaps more than $1,000,000, for N.E.R.D.'s 2017 No One Ever Really Dies album alone.

Complex reached out to Hugo's attorney Brent J. Lehman, but he had no comment. No attorney information for Williams was available as of this writing.

This is not the first legal battle between the former partners. In 2024, Hugo accused Williams of attempting to "fraudulently" claim sole ownership over the name rights for The Neptunes.

TL;DR
Chad Hugo is suing Pharrell Williams for allegedly withholding money from their company, N.E.R.D. Music, LLC. Hugo claims he hasn’t received his share of royalties from album sales, touring, and merchandising, and that Williams has failed to provide proper financial accounting. This is not the first legal dispute between the former Neptunes partners.