Composer Danny Elfman Sued by Nomi Abadi Following Alleged Breach of Contract in Sexual Misconduct Settlement

Elfman allegedly failed to pay two $42,500 installments of a 2018 sexual misconduct settlement

A 2018 sexual misconduct settlement implicating the composer Danny Elfman has come to light after Elfman allegedly missed two of the payments stipulated by the agreement. As a result, the settlement's other party — the 35-year-old composer Nomi Abadi — is suing the 70-year-old Elfman for breach of contract.

The settlement, which was worth $830,000, was quietly reached after Abadi filed a police report of indecent exposure with the LAPD in 2017. The agreement was not publicized, and Elfman was to pay the sum in installments. Abadi's current suit alleges that Elfman missed two payments of $42,500 each in July 2019 and 2021.

A child prodigy on the piano, Nomi Abadi made her concerto debut at the age of 5, and enrolled at the Mannes School of Music aged 8. She is the founder of the Female Composer Safety League, an organization which advocates for female victims of sexual abuse in the music industry.

"It is excruciating to consider that a 50-year career may be destroyed in one news cycle as a result of vicious and wholly false allegations about sexual misconduct," Elfman told Rolling Stone, the outlet that first broke the story.

"Ms. Abadi’s allegations are simply not true," he continued. "I allowed someone to get close to me without knowing that I was her ‘childhood crush’ and that her intention was to break up my marriage and replace my wife. When this person realized that I wanted distance from her, she made it clear that I would pay for having rejected her."

When approached by Rolling Stone, Abadi herself did not make a statement. "It is ironic that Mr. Elfman’s current statements are directly contrary to the position he maintained in the underlying dispute and to the evidentiary record," commented Jeff Anderson, Abadi's attorney.

Abadi did make comments of a more general nature at an earlier press conference, held two days before the 2023 GRAMMY Awards. "I saw the names of [alleged] abusers who were nominated for GRAMMYs this year, and I was unable to bring myself to vote," she said.

"I simply cannot fathom the idea of going along with an industry that allows silence-breakers to be vilified, or participating in a voting process that lauds abusers while some of us are barred from career opportunities because we spoke out."