Music Producer Valentine Files Identity Theft Lawsuit

The star filed papers at Los Angeles Superior Court on 8 December (09) alleging Louis Adkinson has been using his name to land deals with artists including Dancing With the Stars' Mark Ballas.

The lawsuit alleges Adkinson, whose brother runs Valentine's L.A. recording facility, broke into the producer's office and stole a plaque commemorating his work on the Shrek movie soundtrack.

The papers go on to claim Adkinson, and another producer, Damon Elliot, son of singer Dionne Warwick, "conspired to misappropriate and trade off the good will of Valentine's name and use that name to steal from musicians and others who wanted to work with Valentine".

Valentine tells the Hollywood Reporter, "He endears himself to people and gets entrenched in their family lives. He portrays himself as a high roller and tells people he can make them a music star."

Ballas, who records with fellow Dancing With the Stars competitor Derek Hough, alleges Adkinson initially fooled him into believing he was recording with the real Valentine.

He adds, "For the first week, he had us (fooled). He said he'd worked on Maroon 5, he had pictures on his phone holding up the real Eric Valentine's plaque from his office. He didn't have any musical knowledge. He didn't know a C chord. He didn't know anything."

Valentine - real name Eric Dodd - is suing for unfair competition and violation of the California's business and professions code.