Co-founder of fast-fashion juggernaut Boohoo is being sued for £20 million by a former colleague with whom he set up another clothing brand – after she claimed he locked her out of much of the business during a two-year affair.
Jalal Kamani, 64, who describes himself as the founder and director of the company, is being taken to court by businesswoman Leanne Holmes following an argument after they went into business together.
Ms Holmes, 41, says she was recruited by the businessman after he left the company to start a new venture, the super-cheap fashion company I Saw It First (ISIF) – which later became the sponsor of and supplier of clothing to, ITV reality series Love Island.
She claims she was owed a 10 per cent shareholding worth £20m and had worked 100 hours a week to grow the business. But in 2021, she was fired from the company.
Mr Kamani has rejected her claims and a civil trial is expected to take place in Manchester next summer.
Jalal Kamani is being sued for £20 million by a businesswoman he recruited to start a new fast-fashion company
Leanne Holmes claims her stake in the company was unfairly reduced due to an affair she had with her business partner
The pair created I Saw It First, a fast fashion brand that has sponsored and supplied clothes to Love Island
In court documents, Ms Holmes claims she was told ISIF would be 'her company to run' after she left Boohoo to start the new business.
She joined Boohoo as a merchandiser before moving to PrettyLittleThing, which was run by the sons of Mr Kamani's brother Mahmud until 2017, when she joined ISIF as 'co-founder and buying, merchandising and brand director', according to an online resume.
Ms Holmes claims in court papers that she would get a 10 per cent stake in the company, which would be worth the £20 million she is seeking.
She claims that offer was subsequently reduced to five percent after Kamani's business partner became dissatisfied with her share. A filing at Companies House in April 2018 shows she has a five percent stake
Following a £15m cash injection, more shares were created and awarded to Mr Kamani, reducing her shareholding to a reported 0.02 per cent. Companies House filings for March 2022
Mr Kamani's sons also reportedly received a large number of shares, further diluting her stake in the company.
Amid this, Ms Holmes said she had an affair with Mr Kamani that started in 2018 and lasted about two years.
This extended, she said, to receiving two large sums of money, one of which was to pay for her house. He says the payments were 'loans' and wants the money back.
His legal team told me The timeswhich first reported the claims: 'Mr Kamani was generous and wanted to extend that generosity to her.'
She further alleges that she and other female staff were victims of discrimination and harassment by her former business partner and lover.
Kamani's team, on the other hand, says harassment complaints about Holmes were made by other staff members, which were received in September and November 2021.
ISIF's accounts, which were already in arrears last year, lost £2.2 million in the year to April 2022, compared to a loss of £7.75 million the year before.
The company was acquired by Mike Ashley's Frasers Group in 2022 for a nominal sum of £1.