As industry members affected by Paramount Agency & Touring distance themselves from the allegedly fraudulent organisation and its purported owner, Dene Broadbelt, victims have begun coming forward. DJ Jordan Portarianos said he was “crushed” by the recent revelations.
Earlier today, audio engineers from Sydney’s Electric Sun Studios released a statement in which they insisted that they had no affiliation with Paramount Agency & Touring and that their only interaction with them was a discussion about rates for booking studio time at Electric Sun.
Meanwhile, a number of South Australian artists who claim they were “signed” by a man operating under an alias that has now been linked to Dene Broadbelt, a.k.a. Harrison ‘Harry’ O’Connor, have come forward, including Portarianos, who recounted to the Murray Valley Standard how a ‘Claye O’Connor’ signed the 16-year-old to his Elite Artist Management company over the internet.
“I actually cried I was just that happy, it was unreal,” said the teenager of the deal with O’Connor, who claimed to have managed Jimmy Barnes. “It was completely random – I put up one of my mixes on SoundCloud and they heard it. It’s basically a dream; I didn’t think I would go far with it.”
Though sources initially identified O’Connor as the brother of Harry O’Connor, the alias Broadbelt allegedly used while “running” Paramount, The Music reports that an artist signed to the agency claims Claye O’Connor was another alias used by Harry O’Connor, a.k.a. Dene Broadbelt.
After transferring Portarianos to the new Paramount Agency, Broadbelt dropped him from the roster without explanation in April, having apparently promised the teen they would attend the ARIA Awards. The DJ told The Music that the events of the last few months have left him “really crushed.”
Though Portarianos never met “Claye O’Connor” in person, he said the alleged manager attached a photo of himself to a contract and posted photos on Facebook. He told The Music that he was “100 percent” sure that Claye O’Connor was the man identified as Harry O’Connor and Dene Broadbelt.
At the same time, a Wollongong photography company and a limousine service contacted by Harrison ‘Harry’ O’Connor in early July allege to be owed $8,500 by the “manager,” who booked an all-day photo shoot for six of his artists. Meanwhile, a Queensland photographer is also reportedly said to be owed $3,000 after purchasing a camera from a ‘Harrison O’Connor’ off Gumtree.
