“More money, more problems,” – Bethenny Frankel on WWHL May 8, 2011.
First comes the success, then the lawsuits. On the heels of selling her Skinnygirl cocktail line for a reported $120 million, Bethenny Frankel is now being sued by her former manager for $100 million.
Her former management company is claiming they helped broker her pairing with the Skinnygirl cocktail brand only to be cut out of the mega deal that followed afterwards.
Los Angeles-based Raw Talent sued the Bethenny Ever After star today in L.A. Superior Court. The company co-president Doug Wald alleges he met Bethenny in May 2008, while she was appearing on the Real Housewives of NYC. Bethenny then signed with APA on August 7, 2008 and orally agreed that day to retain Wald as her personal manager and pay Raw 10 percent of her earnings (she allegedly confirmed the relationship in an email sent the next day).
Wald claims he gave Bethenny advice on her Skinnygirl line and even hooked her up with her business partner/liquor industry veteran David Kanbar.
Oddly enough, Raw Talent admits Bethenny fired Wald in November 2008, days before signing her deal to develop and market Skinnygirl. Fast forward to today, and the brand has become a huge success. Seventeen months after Bethenny and David went into business together, they sold the company in March for a reported $120 million deal.
Raw Talent now claims its entitled to 10% of that deal, or an estimated $12 million. The company also wants $100 million in punitive damages to make an example out of Bethenny. The suit alleges causes of action for fraud, breach of oral contract and other counts. Neither Bethenny nor her reps have yet to comment.
TELL US – THOUGHTS ON THE LAWSUIT? DO YOU THINK IT HOLDS ANY MERIT?
