The ‘Pawn Stars’ Rick Harrison has some unpleasant news.
According to court filings, Rick Harrison’s mother has launched a lawsuit against him over the family’s assets and ownership of the Las Vegas corporation featured on the long-running reality TV show.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Harrison’s attorneys filed a civil case in Nevada state court on behalf of Harrison’s mother, Joanne Harrison.
Rick Harrison, the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, and the business entities Harrison Properties and JoRich Properties are among those identified as defendants.
“The claims are unfounded,” Rick Harrison told the newspaper, “and I believe people are taking advantage of my 81-year-old mother.”
According to the breach-of-contract complaint, Joanne Harrison was married to the late Richard Harrison, also known as “The Old Man” on the show, for 58 years before he died.
While she was hospitalized in either 2000 or 2001, one of the couple’s three sons, Rick Harrison, allegedly pressured her into transferring to him her 51% ownership interest in the pawn shop.
A History Channel episode starring the family’s grandson Richard Corey Harrison and a family friend named Austin “Chumlee” Russell was filmed at the company in 2009.
According to the lawsuit, after Richard Harrison died in 2018, Joanne Harrison purchased his 49 percent ownership in the pawn store. Yet, Rick Harrison has not provided her with detailed evidence of the company’s financial dealings.
Additionally, Joanne Harrison claims that she has been unable to acquire an accurate accounting of more than $500,000 in cash and silver that her husband allegedly accumulated before to his death.
The action seeks specific damages, an accounting of assets, a court order banning Rick Harrison from accessing funds belonging to Joanne Harrison, and “a constructive trust” over property owned by Joanne Harrison.
