EVANESCENCE - EVANESCENCE EX-MANAGER HITS BACK AT MISCONDUCT CLAIMS

LATEST: Rock group EVANESCENCE's former manager has hit back at sexual and financial misconduct claims levelled against him by AMY LEE, insisting the singer is letting her imagination run wild.

Lee countersued DENNIS RIDER late last week (ends09DEC05) after the svengali filed papers claiming the singer owed him millions in unpaid commissions, accusing him of making repeated unwelcome sexual advances towards her and boasting about committing acts of domestic abuse, among other serious claims.

Rider's lawyer, BERT DEIXLER, insists his client "strongly denies" Lee's allegations, adding "Rider has always conducted himself by the highest professional standards and conducted his business relationships with Ms Lee in a transparent, appropriate and entirely legal fashion."

He adds, "Ms Lee is very creative in writing lyrics to a song. But now she is creating a version of reality that simply has no basis in fact and she knows that.

"Dennis Rider's guidance of Evanescence and Ms Lee's personal career has made her a rock and roll celebrity worldwide and wealthy beyond her dreams. That she would now turn on him, make such spurious and groundless allegations and summarily dismiss him is illegal and disappointing beyond words."