Selena Gomez‘s mental health startup is in some serious legal trouble!
Perezcious readers know that she and her mom, Mandy Teefey, launched the company Wondermind, along with another partner named Daniella Pierson, who is no longer there due to alleged problems with Mandy. While the platform started as a great idea to help those struggling with their mental struggles, they have run into quite a few issues lately! Selly’s momma allegedly is unable to pay the staff! They are in such financial trouble that Mandy had to take out a loan on her home to keep the business afloat, even though the Wizards of Waverly Place actress is a billionaire! Oof!
Coupled with Mandy’s alleged drug problem, which she denied, Wondermind is allegedly not doing well! And it’s far worse than anyone initially realized! According to Dailymail.com on Friday, the company has also been embroiled in a messy lawsuit for months! They allegedly owe nearly $1 million to their former landlord in New York City! Oh s**t!
In a breach of contract lawsuit filed by Genius Sports Media Inc. in February 2025, the sports company claimed Wondermind owed $813,027.18 in back rent, and the mental health platform has not paid it a year later. Per Genius Sports Media’s complaint, it subleased its offices in New York to Wondermind from August 1, 2022, until October 30, 2024, with an annual fixed amount that varied each year:
“Under the Sublease, additional rent included an electricity charge, real estate taxes, building overtime costs, and building improvement charges, in the event Landlord was required to pay such charges.”
Wondermind was also required to provide “a security deposit of $212,980.24.” If the monthly fee was not paid within seven days after the due date, per the agreement, the fixed rent was subject to a 1.5 percent per month late charge. Furthermore, if a lawyer had to get involved, which happened, Wondermind had to pay Genius Sports Media’s attorneys’ fees, disbursements, and court costs. The lawsuit states:
“Wondermind failed to timely pay months of fixed and additional rent under the Sublease. This includes an initial failure by Wondermind to pay additional rent charges for prior month electric and a waste fee on April 28, 2023. Wondermind then failed to pay total rent, fixed and additional rent, from May 2023 through October 2024.”
A notice of default was issued in August 2024, saying the “total amount of monies owed for fixed and additional rent as of August 21, 2024, was $875,917.36.” After the lawsuit began, Wondermind paid $213,000 to Genius Sports, which then reduced the amount to $813,027.18. In Wondermind’s response filing, they denied many of the accusations. They then accused Genius Sports Media of failing “to credit certain payments made by defendant (Wondermind).”
Genius Sports Media is now waiting for a decision on its motion for a summary judgment, which will determine whether the judge will move forward without a trial. And it sounds like the sports business wants this issue wrapped up ASAP! Back on November 24, 2025, Genius Sports Media’s attorney explained that they gave extensions to Wondermind in the past as a professional courtesy. However, they are now refusing to grant another one in the hopes it will help finalize the case soon. The lawyers are also worried that Wondermind, which has headquarters in Los Angeles, will not pay Genius Sports Media the money they’re owed — all because the mental health company may go bankrupt! The filing stated:
“Wondermind continues to express that it may be in dire financial straits. News reports also suggest that the company is dealing with financing issues. As a result, the prospect of bankruptcy appears quite real. Every day that passes poses a threat that Wondermind may file for bankruptcy or otherwise liquidate its assets, harming the chances that Genius Sports may have in recovering any funds due to it under the Sublease.”
Furthermore, Genius Sports Media claimed Wondermind’s past filings have come with “factual inaccuracies and blatant misstatements concerning communications between the parties.” And here is another shocking part! Wondermind’s attorney explained in court filings that the reason for all the delays is that he couldn’t reach his own client at the time! WHAT!
The lawyer explained that it all comes down to his “purported inability” to speak to his client from the mental health startup, whom he did not name, and he has tried multiple times with no success:
“I attempted several times last week without success to reach our client by email and telephone in a final attempt to resolve the Motion and, if the Motion were to proceed, how we should respond. I do not know why our client has been unreachable.”
Because of that, Wondermind’s attorney reportedly wanted to back out of the case altogether! The court granted the lawyer the right to file a motion to withdraw as counsel by the end of January, but no such filing has been submitted. Hmm. We guess he changed his mind! Or he, hopefully, finally got in touch with his client by that point!
To paint a picture of Wondermind’s financial troubles, a court exhibit filed in October 2025 showed an email sent by Bhavik Trivedi, the then-Chief Operating Officer at Wondermind, which had Mandy copied on the email, in October 2023. Trivedi, who left Wondermind in June 2025, wrote to Genius Sports Media about the company’s “severe financial burden,” saying:
“I hope you can understand the severe financial burden this office represents based on the decisions of past leadership and how little utility we are able to extract from it. While we are in an incredibly complicated financial situation that is seeing us navigate month to month, we believe the proposal below may be one that is amenable to Genius.”
Yikes…
A January 9, 2026, filing states that a conference was held in early January with both parties’ attorneys present. The hearing is adjourned to April. We’ll see what happens next, but this is not good for Selena and Mandy! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN. Entertainment Tonight/YouTube]
