Boy George has been given more time in a bankruptcy battle after failing to hand over his share of a £1.75 million payout to a former Culture Club bandmate.
The pop legend – who turns 62 on Wednesday – had agreed a financial settlement with ex-drummer Jon Moss after a bitter dispute over earnings.
The singer, whose real name is George O’Dowd, is facing having his assets confiscated and sold if he defaults on his debts.
Moss started bankruptcy proceedings against the flamboyant frontman after the money was not immediately handed over as agreed.
It was told at a hearing in London that George is trying to negotiate a deal and is proposing an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA).
On hold: Boy George has been given more time in a bankruptcy battle after failing to hand over his share of a £1.75 million payout to a former Culture Club bandmate
An IVA is a formal agreement that allows people in debt to repay their creditors at an affordable rate to avoid bankruptcy.
Judge Catherine Burton adjourned the case for a new hearing on June 27 while discussions are ongoing.
In March, the singer, bassist Mikey Craig and guitarist Roy Hay agreed to pay 65-year-old Moss damages in an out-of-court settlement.
Moss, who was a founding member of the band, sued the group after being fired in September 2018 while on a European tour.
He claimed he had been ‘evicted’ after 37 years and would take his ex-bandmates to court to recover his lost earnings.
Just days before a six-day High Court trial, the band had agreed to end the dispute and were required to immediately pay Moss £1.75 million.
But George did not pay and the drummer, with whom he was in a relationship at the height of his career, filed for bankruptcy.
Craig, 63, was also mentioned in a separate petition. The cases were heard together in Insolvency and Companies Court at the Rolls Building in London, where Prince Harry appeared as a witness as part of the Mirror Group Newspapers phone hacking trial.
Drama: The pop legend – who turns 62 on Wednesday – had agreed a financial settlement with ex-drummer Jon Moss after a bitter dispute over earnings
George and Craig were not present during the five-minute hearing.
The court has been informed that a meeting was held last Friday to discuss proposals from the debtors for the Individual Voluntary Agreement.
The meeting was adjourned for further discussions on June 21.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Hugh Miall, counsel for George and Craig, asked for a two-week extension to allow further discussions.
It meant that the band members – who famously had a top ten hit with Time (Clock of the Heart) in 1982 – were given a stay of execution to get their affairs in order.
Hay, 61, was not a party to the proceedings because he lives in the US and is under a different jurisdiction.
George reportedly earned over £500,000 after appearing alongside former Health Secretary Matt Hancock in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! last year.
After reaching the settlement with Moss, sources close to the star told MailOnline, “Money owed to Jon will be paid from upcoming tours and therefore Boy George will not go out of business”.
The band kicks off a string of UK dates in support of Sir Rod Stewart in Plymouth on June 24 before embarking on a North American tour this summer, taking in 25 cities.
The frontman then returns to Australia with the band playing five gigs Down Under.
The group, who rose to fame in the 1980s, will perform their greatest hits, including Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, Karma Chameleon and Church of the Poisoned Mind, right up to their current releases on the tour called The Letting It Go Show. .
Moss originally launched a lawsuit against his bandmates, claiming he owed £200,000 in lost earnings under a tour contract.
He later amended the claim by claiming that Boy George had attempted to defraud him of what was owed to him, after tour funds were released to a company allegedly owned by the singer.
The frontman claimed the fraud allegation was a “personal attack” and “not true at all.”
Moss – who claimed to have spent £1million on the legal dispute – also tried to prevent Boy George from selling his £17million Hampstead home.
George lived in the sprawling Grade II listed Gothic mansion for nearly 40 years.
The house was later taken off the market and Moss’ request for an injunction was denied.
As part of the legal settlement, Moss agreed to relinquish any right to the Culture Club name and use of it, including in connection with concerts and merchandise.
Agreement: Moss initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the flamboyant frontman after the money was not immediately handed over as agreed
In January, Boy George said of Moss, “I feel I must be very upset, but I must, as far as I know, have removed any real hatred for him.”
In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like A Man, George called his relationship with Moss the “great unresolved romance of the century”, saying it was “built on abuse of power and masochism”.
The couple broke up in 1985, but tensions caused by their rocky relationship persisted and George developed a heroin addiction.
A US tour was canceled when Moss and George no longer wanted to be together and by 1986 the band had broken up.
They reunited over the years and achieved success with their 1998 tour and album Don’t Mind If I Do.