Selena Gomez is pushing back against allegations that she defrauded investors in mental health startup Wondermind, with her lawyer preparing to ask a federal court to dismiss the claims against her.

Attorney Mathew S. Rosengart has rejected the accusations in unusually direct terms, saying allegations that Gomez participated “in any way whatsoever” in fraud or other wrongdoing are “completely meritless, both factually and legally.” He has also confirmed that Gomez’s legal team is preparing a formal motion to dismiss the case.

The response marks a shift in the Wondermind dispute. Until now, much of the attention has centred on what two investors say went wrong inside the company. Gomez’s defence is now putting a different question before the court: whether the allegations against her personally are sufficient to proceed at all.

Selena Gomez challenges claims tying her to alleged fraud

The lawsuit was brought by Wondermind SRS 44 LLC and Bespoke Wondermind LLC, which invested nearly $1.2 million in the company.

The investors have accused Gomez, her mother Mandy Teefey and co-founder Daniella Pierson of common-law fraud, securities fraud and breach of contract. They are seeking the return of their investment as well as unspecified damages.

Gomez’s legal response does not simply dispute the scale of the investors’ losses. Her lawyer is rejecting the premise that she engaged in fraudulent conduct in the first place.

Rosengart’s planned motion to dismiss will seek to stop the claims before the dispute advances further through the litigation process.

That makes the next legal step particularly important for Gomez. Instead of waiting for the broader allegations surrounding Wondermind to play out, her defence is moving early to challenge whether the case against her should remain alive.

Her role at Wondermind sits at the centre of the dispute

Gomez co-founded Wondermind with Teefey and Pierson in 2021. The company was positioned as a mental health platform built around a “mental fitness ecosystem.”

The investors’ allegations against Gomez are tied in part to the role they expected her to play in the business.

They claim Gomez was expected to serve as Chief Impact Officer and use her substantial public following to promote Wondermind. The plaintiffs allege that she failed to meet those promotional commitments.

Those claims have not been established as fact, and Gomez’s lawyer is now challenging accusations of wrongdoing against her altogether.

That distinction is central to the defence emerging around the case. Wondermind’s business difficulties and the separate question of whether Gomez personally committed fraud are not automatically the same issue.

$1.2 million investment dispute remains in the background

The investors’ wider case contains several allegations about what they say they were told before and after putting money into Wondermind.

They claim the company presented an inaccurate picture of its finances, operating capabilities and technological progress. The complaint also alleges that plans for a proprietary mental health application and corporate partnerships did not materialise as represented.

Another part of the dispute concerns Wondermind’s preliminary valuation during a 2022 capital raise. Investors claim the startup carried a valuation of nearly $95 million and now dispute whether that figure was supported by the company’s revenue position.

Those allegations explain how the dispute reached court, but Gomez’s latest response moves the story beyond the original accusations.

The immediate focus is now on whether the plaintiffs have presented enough to keep their claims against her moving forward.

The next battle is over whether the claims survive

For Gomez, the planned dismissal motion represents the first significant legal counterattack outlined publicly in the dispute.

Rosengart has not offered a partial denial or attempted to distance his client from only selected accusations. His statement rejects allegations of fraud or wrongdoing by Gomez outright.

That gives the Wondermind case a new phase.

The investors have laid out their allegations and are seeking to recover nearly $1.2 million. Gomez, through her lawyer, is now seeking to prevent those allegations against her from advancing further.

Whether the court accepts that challenge will determine what comes next for Gomez in a dispute that has moved from questions about a troubled startup to a direct legal fight over her personal responsibility.

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