D4vd's Mother Moved WHAT After Celeste's Body Was Found?!

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This is HiddenKillers With Tony Brueski.

**Tony Brueski** (0:11)
So, a 21-year-old who apparently grossed about $12 million smiled and shook hands with lawyers he can no longer afford as they walked out of a Los Angeles courtroom just the other day, August 31st, 2026 Then he sat back down next to the PublicDefenders, the state just assigned him. David, David Burke, D4vd, the singer, charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, continuous lewd acts with a child under 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Came into court for a routine free trial hearing. Blair Burke, his attorney, high-powered attorney, we've been talking about her for a while now, you know, good representation. Came out of the judge's chambers and told the court her client wanted a Public Defender. Blair Burke, Harvard Law, the woman who's represented Harvey Weinstein, Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, Brittany Spears, the most connected crisis lawyer in Hollywood. Just told the judge, came over, I'm done. Judge Charlene O'Metto looked in Burke, is that your wish, Mr. Burke? He said, yes, Deputy Public Defender, Willard Candeel, walked up the gallery with colleague Lisa Ann Roth. Burke pled not guilty, Burke walked out. So the question everyone is asking is whether losing the celebrity lawyer is a death sentence on top of the one the state's already considering. The better question is whether she was ever the right lawyer for this fight.
You might be surprised. $12 million. That's the number that makes the story sound insane. His financial manager, Benjamin Greger, testified at the preliminary in July that Burke grossed between $10 and $11.5 million from recording publishing in March between $23 and $25. Interscope's financial chief, Louis Piramiro, testified the label paid Burke and entities connected to him over $5 million between 2022 and 2025 Entities connected to him. That phrase is doing a lot of work. Those payments covered recording costs, management fees, legal fees and career expenses. Every dollar filtered through a pipeline of people who took their cut before David Burke even saw a cent. So, understand that when you hear $12 million grossed, not even a majority of that ends up in the pocket of the actual artist. David or anybody, non-murderous ones. The label also took a share of his brand partnerships with Bose, Hollister, Crocs and AMC. He signed the deal at $17 million, a minors contract. His mother Colleen ran the money. Greger testified that nearly all of Burke's financial decisions were handled by Colleen Burke, not by David. Burke himself rarely discussed earnings or account balances. Greger talked to Burke's mother roughly 10 times a month. The 21-year-old whose name was on the contract was not the person deciding where the money actually went. And after Celeste Rivas Hernandez remains were found in Burke's Tesla in September of 25, decisions got interesting. Greger testified he told Colleen to transfer property titles out of Burke's name and into hers to protect the assets, he said, from a civil lawsuit by the Rivas Hernandez family. He testified they were trying to scrape together $2 million for bail. He also testified the management team switched to encrypted messaging apps, assets moving, titles transferring, communications going dark, and then the label pulling the plug saying, You know what? This is not exactly the look we're going for. Interscope terminated Burke's contract in December of 25 They reportedly stopped promoting him the day the body was found in September, but didn't formally cut the deal until he was named a suspect in November. Squeeze a little more juice. No payments came after the termination. The year by year payments tell you where the floor dropped out. $950,000 in 2022, $3.8 million in 2023, $186,000 in 2024, $2.7 million in 2025 and then nothing in 26 He was paying $20,000 a month for a Hollywood Hills rental. He didn't own it. Management, lawyers and taxes all took their cuts before Burke saw anything and his mother decided where the rest went. Nobody, not the Public Defender's Office, not his former lawyers, not the court, has publicly explained what's left. Who knows? Multiple outlets have noted there were no signs of lavish spending, no car collection, no mansion, no property in his name.
He was a new artist. And I don't think a lot of people understand how this industry works.
All of those things need to be paid back to the record label. It's almost like an IOU. So you can gross $12 million, which I honestly kind of have a hard time believing he ever grossed $12 million on his record sales just because he's not that big, was never that big, was starting to grow. Early artists don't make a ton of money. They don't. If you look at just a string of artists, I worked in the music industry for 20 years. So I have a little insight.