Entertainment
Shark Tank stars Kevin O’Leary and Kevin Harrington are being sued for fraud
Kevin O’Leary and Kevin Harrington are accuses of defrauding over 20 people
Shark Tank entrepreneurs Kevin O’Leary and Kevin Harrington have been accused of fraud in a lawsuit filed against them.
The 20 plaintiffs claim that the two famous businessmen convinced smaller entrepreneurs looking to launch new ventures into hiring the services of their companies InventureX and Ideazon to help with crowdfunding and marketing endeavours.
However, the people behind the lawsuit claim the two Sharks failed to deliver any service they were paid for.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs are claiming that O’Leary and Harrington worked together to defraud people utilising ‘fictional executives, false promises of financial success, and even illusions of being on the show Shark Tank itself’.
‘These companies turned out to be nothing less than facades designed to lure in unsuspecting victims, extract their money and then virtually disappear under the guise of delays, minimal to no performance, and no results,’ state the documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight.
The suit also claims that the two companies promoted by O’Leary and Harrington may not exist and are instead part of a ‘predatory fraud scheme’.
O’Leary has been a Shark for over 10 years (Picture: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage/Getty)
O’Leary has been the main Shark/entrepreneur/judge on the ABC remake of Dragon’s Den since its start in 2009.
O’Leary also appeared in many Canadian business new programmes like SqueezePlay and The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, as well as the country’s own version of the Den and reality show Redemption Inc.
Harrington, who was on the original Shark Tank panel, quit in 2011 after two seasons of the show.
Harrington was on the show for a short two year stint (Picture: Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Harrington is reportedly a ‘partner and primary executive of InventureX,’ while O’Leary allegedly ‘endorsed and recommended’ the same two companies.
Additional investigation into these two organisations further disclosed that InventureX and Ideazon ‘used the same success stories, same percentage rates of success, same marketing/promotional ideas, same promises/representations, same agreements, same bank accounts and one entity pulling both their strings: Defendant Crowdfund, LLC’.
According to the claims filed in the lawsuit, the loss incurred by the plaintiffs could exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
More: Dragons’ Den
They are asking Harrington and O’Leary to pay for economic loss, emotional distress, damages, and legal fees.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to ABC representatives about O’Leary’s future on the show.
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