#Caretaker blared ‘Spanish’ music at Bill Gross home: lawyer

The property manager of Bill Gross’ California mansion was responsible for playing some of the loud music that irked his neighbor — not the billionaire bond king himself, his lawyer reportedly claimed.

Tech entrepreneur Mark Towfiq has accused Gross of blaring various tunes from his Laguna Beach home to harass him in retaliation for complaining to local authorities about a glass sculpture Gross installed on his property.

A local cop reportedly said she heard Mariachi music blasting so loudly at the home in October that it drowned out the sound of nearby highway traffic. But Jill Basinger, an attorney representing Gross in his bitter legal battle with Towfiq, said the property’s Latino caretaker played such music simply because he liked it, according to Bloomberg News.

“When the house manager takes the stand, he will indicate that it was his music, and it is his preferred music, and it’s certainly not Mariachi music and that’s an offensive way of describing it,” Basinger reportedly said during a Wednesday court hearing over the dueling lawsuits Gross and Towfiq have filed against each other.

Basginer also pressed Towfiq, who continued his testimony in the case Wednesday, about why he didn’t reach out to the property manager, Efrain Alba, if he was bothered by the music, Bloomberg reported.

“One of the reasons was there were all these lawsuits flying around,” Towfiq said, according to the news service. “I just didn’t feel comfortable contacting anybody at this house.”

Asked by Basinger whether he found Spanish music to be “harassing,” Towfiq reportedly replied that he has a “large collection” of Latin tunes and that he has “no problems with any kind of music.”

Towfiq has accused Gross and his girlfriend, Amy Schwartz, of playing other music at “excessive” volumes, including rap songs and the theme song to the TV show “Gilligan’s Island.” The aural offensive was meant to pressure Towfiq into dropping a complaint he had filed about Gross’ outdoor sculpture, court records allege.

But Gross and Schwartz argue the dispute is actually about Towfiq’s obsessive “peeping tom behavior” rather than the art piece. They say he has “watched, leered at, photographed, and videotaped” the couple in their home for more than a year and has cameras pointed at their property.

Alba will testify in the case as early as Thursday, Bloomberg reported. A lawyer for Towfiq and a spokesman for Gross did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Thursday morning.