By KATRINA GOGGINS
Associated Press

BAMBERG, S.C. - A company that handles royalties and income from commercials and other projects for James Brown's estate has significantly less money than it should, a lawyer for the late soul singer's family said.

Much of the money that was supposed to be going to James Brown Enterprise Inc. instead ended up in a company established by a former trustee accused of misappropriating $7 million from the singer, attorney Louis Levenson said Nov. 15.

The company collected money earned by Brown and continued to do so after he died on Christmas, but never gave the money to the singer, Levenson said.

David Cannon, who quit working for the estate in August after being accused of taking money from it, testified that he would give Brown $100,000 a month for "walking-around spending money" because the singer had difficulty managing his finances. Cannon said his company would pay expenses such as plane tickets and equipment needed when the singer went on tour.

Cannon told the judge his attorney advised against answering several questions, including how much he made during the nearly 16 years he worked for Brown.

Hon. Jack Early ordered Cannon to pay $373,000 to Brown's estate within five days.Cannon said he could not afford that, but instead offered his beach property in South Carolina, said to be worth nearly $2 million.

Cannon acknowledged that in August he made an $866,000 deposit to build a house in Honduras, where he planned to retire next year. He said he was currently unemployed and being audited by the IRS.

The judge ordered Cannon to provide all of his financial records within 10 days.