{"id":39287,"date":"2026-08-11T20:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T15:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39287"},"modified":"2026-08-11T20:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T15:49:16","slug":"amy-helm-caused-2-million-in-damages-to-levon-helm-studio-says-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39287","title":{"rendered":"Amy Helm Caused $2 Million in Damages to Levon Helm Studio, Says Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/levon-helm\/\" id=\"auto-tag_levon-helm\" data-tag=\"levon-helm\">Levon Helm<\/a>\u2019s daughter, singer-songwriter Amy Helm, is accused of causing at least $2 million in damages to Levon Helm Studios in a new lawsuit tied to the ongoing dispute over the Woodstock venue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tFiled in federal court in New York Monday, the suit focuses largely on Helm\u2019s alleged financial mismanagement during her tenure as president of the Levon Helm Studios (also known as the Barn) between 2017 and 2026. The suit claims that a recent review of LHS\u2019 financial records \u201cuncovered millions of dollars of self-dealing transactions apparently authorized by Amy, or for her benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe suit also includes trademark infringement claims related to Helm\u2019s continued use of the \u201cMidnight Ramble\u201d name. This was a concert series that began when Levon was still alive, and which Helm has continued under the moniker, \u201cHelm Family Midnight Ramble,\u201d allegedly in violation of a \u201cMidnight Ramble\u201d mark obtained in 2011.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tThe complaint contains some new details about the personal drama that\u2019s played out alongside the business dispute, which has pitted Helm against her stepmother, Sandra \u201cSandy\u201d Helm, and Brian Parillo, a musician and longtime shareholder in LHS. Specifically, the suit references security camera footage of an alleged altercation that took place May 28, two days after Helm was ousted from the LHS management group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAccording to the suit, the camera footage shows that Helm \u201cspent hours berating\u201d Sandy, \u201cdemanding that she withdraw support for the change in management.\u201d Along with the security footage, the suit claims Parillo and others recorded portions of the alleged argument on their phones, and that, after Helm saw she was being filmed, she \u201ccursed at Brian and shoved him.\u201d (Police were called to the Barn at the time, but no charges were filed.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tHelm, in court filings related to the ongoing matter of Levon Helm\u2019s estate, has accused Parillo of manipulating Sandy, of \u201cfinancial exploitation and elder abuse.\u201d Parillo has denied this and, in turn, accused Helm of denying him and other LHS shareholders access to corporate records, along with financial mismanagement. (A representative for Helm did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the new lawsuit.)<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ editors-pick-module lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tSince news of the dispute broke last month, Parillo has referred to an ongoing investigation into Helm\u2019s alleged mismanagement of the company, with some of the findings included in the new lawsuit. It alleges that Helm charged $400,000 to LHS to cover everything from touring expenses to \u201cpersonal tax repayments, her health and life insurance, her driver, her personal lawyer\u2019s fees,\u201d and more. Of this $400,000, the suit claims, $167,000 was \u201capparently so unrelated to the company\u201d that Helm\u2019s accountant (also named as a defendant) couldn\u2019t \u201cjustify them as legitimate expenses\u201d and categorized them as \u201cDue from Amy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tFurthermore, the suit claims that Helm \u201cforced LHS to repay\u201d a small business loan taken out during the pandemic to support her touring company. And that key office employees often worked on \u201cpersonal business for Amy and companies she owned\/was affiliated with\u201d while ostensibly on the clock for LHS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tHelm is also accused of taking out nearly $200,000 in \u201cloans\u201d from the Estate of Levon Helm, including an LLC set up to distribute royalties from Levon\u2019s final three albums. Because of these \u201cloans,\u201d the suit claims, the LLC was unable to distribute royalties to the various musicians who helped Levon record the albums for four years.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tDuring Helm\u2019s tenure as president of LHS, the suit alleges, the venue recorded increasingly larger losses. In 2017, the year Helm took over, the studio took in $120,000 in gross profit, with $134,000 in additional expenses, resulting in losses of about $14,000. By 2022, those losses were up to $308,000, as profits reached $344,000, but expenses hit $652,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAccording to the suit, Helm has continued to harm LHS since her ouster by publicizing the dispute and allegedly encouraging artists and vendors \u201cto cancel contracts with LHS.\u201d (Numerous artists have pulled out of gigs at the Barn over the past month, with many gigs moving to other venues in the Woodstock area.) \u201cLHS believes that Amy is leading or encouraging show cancellations in hope that LHS will either run out of money, or be so focused on repaying ticketholders that it is unable to pay to continue its investigation into Amy and her co-conspirators or pursue them for damages in court,\u201d the suit reads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Levon Helm\u2019s daughter, singer-songwriter Amy Helm, is accused of causing at least $2 million in damages to Levon Helm Studios in a new lawsuit tied to the ongoing dispute over the Woodstock venue. Filed in federal court in New York Monday, the suit focuses largely on Helm\u2019s alleged financial mismanagement during her tenure as president&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Levon-Helm-studio-lawsuit.jpg?crop=0px%2C46px%2C1800px%2C1014px&resize=1600%2C900","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}