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Kathy Ireland Addresses $100M Fraud Lawsuit Against Ex-Business Partners.
Kathy Ireland was glad to reveal certain details of the $100 million lawsuit she filed against five former business partners who allegedly defrauded her financially over many years.
The complaint, dated March 9 and submitted in Santa Barbara, asserts that the partners committed fraud, financial abuse, theft, and misrepresentation, violating fiduciary duties and contractual obligations, while also allegedly covering up, taking, and using the funds improperly over a long time.
During a fresh conversation with ABC News’ Nightline, whose extract was shown on Good Morning America on Friday, March 20, the model-turned-businesswoman remarked that the greatest hurt of the purported betrayal was the emotional strain it caused her.
Kathy Ireland Declares She Won’t “Just Stand By” in Face of Huge Fraud Lawsuit
Kathy Ireland stated she will not keep silent as she pursues a substantial lawsuit against former business partners accused of defrauding her for several decades.
“It was my old job description to ‘Shut up and pose.’ And I totally reject that, ” Ireland told Nightline anchor Juju Chang. “Moreover, I refuse to just stand by without doing anything when someone lies, abuses, hurts my family, and hurts others. I will not allow such things to happen.”
Ireland, who first became a household name as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model and then went on to build a licensing empire that reportedly generated more than $1 billion in annual sales at its peak, is now accusing former partners of mismanaging and embezzling funds over a period of more than 30 years.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are Jason Winters and Erik Sterling, who were in charge of Ireland’s affairs for over 35 years; Brittany Duncan, the current CEO of Kathy Ireland Worldwide; and Stephen Roseberry and Jon Carrasco, another couple who, according to the complaint, were adopted as adults by Winters and Sterling.
Kathy Ireland Claims Former Partners Used Her as a “Piggy Bank” in $100M Fraud Case.
Following the complaint accessed by PEOPLE, Kathy Ireland and her husband, Greg Olsen, have indicated that their family was “betrayed on a staggering and unconscionable scale”, with losses possibly reaching $100 million.
According to the complaint, the defendants got power of attorney and “complete control” over the couple’s financial affairs after hallucinating that they would “take care of everything.” Ireland claims that she wasn’t given a salary and that she was told that her earnings were being invested. However, the lawsuit states that her business partners “took it, ” as they “exploited” Ireland and Olsen, an emergency room doctor and commercial fisherman, as “work horses and piggy banks.”
Also, the defendants allegedly opened credit cards in Ireland’s name, ran up substantial debt, and only paid the minimum balances. The complaint further states that, as part of the accused long-term plan, they opened cards in the names of other persons, including a housekeeper.
Kathy Ireland Accuses Family Members of Being Defrauded in $100M Lawsuit.
Kathy Ireland sued her former business partners for fraud, seeking $100 million, and part of her accusations is that her family members were defrauded too. She says that over $8 million was taken from her husband Greg Olsen’s pay, and a $400, 000 inheritance was allegedly taken and never paid back. Furthermore, one of the managers, Erik Stering, is said to have taken a $150, 000 SBA loan using Olsen’s name without his knowledge.
According to the lawsuit, it also alleges that $60, 000 was stolen from Ireland’s aging mother, Barbara, who is a plaintiff in the case.
During an interview with ABC News, Ireland revealed a scenario that led her to think that something was very wrong. She said that her son and his wife, when they were purchasing a house, invited her and her husband to sign the loan with them. “And when we were refused the opportunity to co-sign because our credit had been ruined, ” she explained. “That was the biggest red flag.”
Kathy Ireland Says She Still Doesn’t Know the Full Extent of Alleged Financial Misconduct
According to the complaint, Kathy Ireland and her family “still do not know the whole story” of the “overwhelming debt, misuse of credit, secret loans, and missing funds” they were allegedly left with. The complaint also alleges that the defendants erected a “highly interconnected network of personal, trust, and corporate relationships whose sole purpose was to conceal accountability.”
“I think we were under the impression that our bills were being paid while in fact, they were not, ” Ireland told ABC, explaining that her reaction was one of “shock” when she found out about the alleged wrongdoing.
Jill Basinger, Ireland’s lawyer, while talking to *Variety*, expressed her opinion that the case indicates the existence of massive financial malpractices. “The findings we have so far are only a very small indication of what is to come, ” Basinger explained. “Kathy’s managers exploited their positions of trust to make themselves wealthy at Kathy’s expense while deceptively keeping Kathy in the dark about the financial situation of herself and her family. The time for getting away with it is over. Sterling and Winters will have to face the consequences of their actions.”
Kathy Ireland Says That Due to a $100M Fraud Lawsuit She Was Left Without Retirement Savings.
Kathy Ireland herself pointed to the negative impact on her finances as a result of the alleged misbehavior, which even forced her to put her house on the market. She goes on to say through the lawsuit that she has no more retirement savings or inheritance for her children.
The case stands in stark contrast to Ireland’s image as a very prosperous businesswoman. In 2012, she was singled out by Forbes as one of the most successful self-made women in the country, with her wealth being around $420 million, according to the magazine.
“The thing that mattered most to me was the work we were doing, the people we were serving, ” she said in a conversation with ABC’s Juju Chang.
*PEOPLE* is also requesting the defendants to provide a statement. Brittany Duncan, in a message posted on the web, described Ireland’s legal action as “a publicity-seeking attempt” linked to a $25 million dispute that Ireland and her husband are a part of, and stated the accusations “knowingly false, baseless, deceptive, slanderous, and disingenuous.”
Defendants Push Back on Kathy Ireland’s Fraud Claims
Brittany Duncan and other defendants have denied Kathy Ireland’s accusations and disputed both the claims as well as the nature of their business relationship.
Duncan mentioned that the shareholders “were never business managers at any time” and, on the contrary, “they supported Kathy Ireland in every way, even giving her personal financial help.”
She noted that the parties are in fact engaged in legal proceedings and that the company feels the matter should be settled in court, not through the media.
In their responses to ABC News, the defendants also pointed out that “all the loans that are being talked about have Kathy Ireland’s signature on them” and they have stated that the people concerned “have been partners and equal shareholders right from the beginning, not business managers.”
Kathy Ireland Claims She Is Now “In Full Control” of Her Business
Tony Ireland’s lawyer, Jill Basinger, rejected the defendants’ argument that they were business partners, not managers. “I suppose my reply is, ‘Then what?’, ” she remarked. “Hypothetically, if they were business partners, would that justify stealing? Would that justify being dishonest with Kathy? Would that justify hiding things?”
In spite of the charges, Ireland revealed that she is now “in full control” of her company with a new executive team and that she is financially stable. When reviewing the past, she admitted that some of her early choices might have been “naive,” but she would like others to benefit from her experience.
Talking about the message she would like to send to her ex-business partners, Ireland replied, “I wish them well. You can’t use me as your cover and carry on doing things that I would never agree to; that I would never say are okay. Be the right person, and every day will be better than today.”