Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary and former star Kevin Harrington are facing allegations of fraud. In a lawsuit filed by 20 people from across the country, the two famous business investors have been accused of scamming and manipulating hopeful entrepreneurs. ET has reached out to Harrington and O'Leary for comment.
According to court documents obtained by ET, O'Leary and Harrington are accused of working together to defraud people through the alleged use of "fictional executives, false promises of financial success, and even illusions of being on the show Shark Tank itself."
Specifically, the two allegedly employed a "predatory fraud scheme to induce inventors and entrepreneurs to hire one of two companies, InventureX or Ideazon."
The entrepreneurs claim they were "promised that they would receive help with crowd funding to start their businesses" if they invested financial resources into them. After the entrepreneurs paid InventureX and Ideazon they claim that they didn't receive any of the help that was promised.
They also claim that these companies might not even really exists and alleged that they could both be a front for scamming upstart investors.
According to the docs, which were first reported on by TMZ, Harrington is "a partner and primary executive of InventureX," and O'Leary allegedly "endorsed and recommended" the same two companies.
The entrepreneurs who filed the suit claim that their losses could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per plaintiff. The lawsuit is asking for Harrington and O' Leary to pay for damages, economic loss, emotional distress and legal fees.
O'Leary has been a part of Shark Tank since 2009, while Harrington appeared regularly in the first two seasons of the show.
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