In September 1967, Klein took over as sole manager after buying out Oldham. Klein oversaw the most tumultuous period in the group's history with the fall-out from Jagger and Keith Richards' drug-bust earlier that year and Brian Jones' death in July 1969. A year later, with their Decca contract at an end, the group decided to make a clean break and oust Klein, who had grown increasingly incommunicative, and to start their own label with distribution from Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic Records.
In 1971, the Stones launched various lawsuits against Klein and his companies, accusing him of "false or fraudulent" representations. At some point, Jagger famously confronted Klein in a hotel corridor, asking him: "Where is my !@#$ing money?" In May 1972, a final settlement was thrashed out between the Stones and their former manager during a 24-hour session (supposedly captured on film on Jagger's orders).
Klein and ABKCO kept the rights to all past Stones recordings and the administration of their Sixties publishing while the band were supposed to deliver one more album for their former manager and to receive $1m. "The settlement means that Allen Klein never has anything else to do with us," commented Jagger at the time, a statement that would come back to haunt him. The Stones' former business manager maintained a tight grip on the band's catalogue and insisted the group couldn't release a live album containing Sixties material until 1977.
He kept issuing compilation albums – Milestones, Rock'n'Rolling Stones, No Stone Unturned, Hot Rocks – and occasionally ended up in court when he dragged his feet over royalty payments. In the summer of 1975, as the band embarked on their first tour with guitarist Ronnie Wood, ABKCO released Metamorphosis, an album of out-takes and alternative tracks from the Sixties, while the Stones countered with their own Made In The Shade collection.
In 2002, a new agreement enabled the group to issue the 40 Licks double CD career overview. At the end of 2007, Klein proved how adept he was at the small print when Rolled Gold +, the extended version of Rolled Gold, the best-selling Stones compilation from the mid-Seventies, appeared with "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" from their classic 1971 album Sticky Fingers because these tracks had been recorded while they were still technically under contract to Klein.