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Shark Tank’sKevin O’Learyand Kevin Harrington have been sued for fraud.
In a statement issued via his lawyer, O’Leary says, “It appears that someone has been using my name and likeness without my knowledge, permission, or consent. I’ve never heard of any of these purported companies and have never conducted business with any of the plaintiffs who filed this suit. Obviously, I want to get to the bottom of it too, as my rights have been violated. We will make sure that the bad actors are held accountable.”
InventureX and Ideazon did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
The complaint claims the plaintiffs spent “months, if not years” trying to get their products and businesses started with no results, and also have yet to get their money back. The complaint outlines a “structured fraud scam” in which the two companies, represented as separate entities to the public, “are actually intertwined and connected internally, constituting practical mirror images of each other.”
According to the complaint, O’Leary, 67, endorsed both companies, despite a “lack of due diligence, basic investigation or minimal inquiry to determine how real or legitimate” they were. Harrington, 64, is a “partner and primary executive” of InventureX and “knowingly made personalized videos” that were sent to the plaintiffs “in order to lure [them] to sign up and and/or continue paying fees,” per the complaint.
The two companies allegedly “took hundreds of thousands of dollars” from the plaintiffs “while delivering little to nothing on the services they represented would be provided.”
The plaintiffs are suing for fraud, negligence, breach of written contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They are seeking pay for damages, economic loss, emotional distress and legal feees.
O’Leary has been onShark Tanksince 2009. Harrington made regular appearances in seasons 1 and 2.
TMZwas first to report the lawsuit.
source: people.com
