Kathy Ireland accused her former team of draining her multi-million dollar fortune, according to documents obtained by FOX News Digital.
On the cover of Sports Illustrated, she alleged that her former executives violated her trust on an “astonishing and unconscionable scale” and stole millions of dollars from Ireland and her family.
Irish lawyer Jill Basinger told FOX News Digital exclusively that Cathy’s faith has not wavered since she discovered the allegations of deception from within her inner circle.
“Kathy is a deeply religious person, and her faith in God really helped her and (husband) Greg (Olsen) overcome betrayal and broken trust, and gave them hope for the future,” Basinger said.
Basinger, Head of Media, Entertainment and Sports at Stris & Maher LLP., added that Ireland’s “faith in God is stronger than anything else.”
“No human betrayal would shake her foundations,” she continued. “That being said, people cannot behave like this. It’s a matter of human decency. It’s not right to treat someone like this. Kathy and Greg had full trust in these people. Their reward was to be deceived.”
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in a Santa Barbara court in Ireland, the 62-year-old woman, once estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $420 million through her eponymous brand, claims her family was targeted by Jason Winters and Eric Sterling, who were allegedly at the helm of a deceptive business scheme.
“More than 30 years ago, when supermodel Kathy Ireland was just 26 years old, she trusted two Hollywood insiders who promised to ‘take care of everything’ for her financially, professionally and personally,” the lawsuit states. “Kathy believed (and still believes) in values and loyalty.
“At that young age, Kathy was building a career. She was newly married and planning to start a family. She believed in hard work. She believed in doing business with integrity. And she believed in them based on their commitments. Sadly, that belief was misplaced. They were deceiving her all along.”
Ireland claimed that Winters and Sterling told her her family “didn’t have to worry” because “she was very wealthy”.
Instead, the model claimed that her former team “failed to create and invest the wealth” they had promised her family, leaving Ireland and her husband Greg Olsen in extreme debt and forcing them to sell their family home.
According to documents, when the couple tried to loan their son money for a down payment on a home, they realized they didn’t have the funds and the defendant had embezzled the money.
“Kathy and Greg now know that no substantive retirement accounts exist,” the lawsuit claims. “There are no carefully managed investments to secure their futures, as promised. There is no wealth to secure their retirement or their children’s futures, as they have been led to believe.
“Instead, Defendants’ illegal conduct resulted in significant debt, abuse of trust, secret loans, and a lack of funds.”
She believes “defendants are liable to plaintiffs for damages in the tens of millions, if not more than $100 million, subject to proof at trial,” the document states. “Defendants continue to withhold funds received from and owed to Plaintiffs.”
Model Olsen and her mother, Barbara Ireland, included four former employees of Kathy Ireland Worldwide.
