PAWN STARS RICK SUED FOR RIPPING OFF OWN MOM!
Feud over family biz
PAWN Stars bossman Rick Harrison is caught in a nasty feud with his own mother, who charges he duped her into signing over the majority ownership in the TV gold mine and has since stiffed her on payments!
In shocking court papers Joanne Harrison, 81, and widow of the Las Vegas Gold & Silver Pawn Shop founder Richard “The Old Man” Harrison, who died in 2018, accuses Rick of stopping her $25,000 monthly payments.
She also charges Rick, one of her three sons, hoodwinked her into signing over her shares of the shop seen on the History Channel show when she was seriously ill in Valley Hospital two years ago.
“While Joanne was in the hospital recovering from her coma, Rick apparently made her sign over her 51 percent ownership interest in the
Pawn Shop to him,” charges her lawsuit filed late last month.
Joanne did not know or fully understand what she was signing at the time, the court papers claim. Her suit also insists she’s only received $85,000 from the business since 2020.
She claims to be in dire need of the dough to pay for her $15,000 monthly medical care.
On March 7, her lawyers asked for a temporary restraining order against her son, saying: “While Rick enjoys his comfortable life as a celebrity firmly in control of all the family businesses and finances, Joanne is left frightened, and unsure if she will have enough resources to pay for her considerable medical and personal expenses each month.”
The ailing mom claims Gold & Silver Pawn raked in more than $1 million a year, including $1.6 million in 2018 and $1.3 million in 2019, but also admits the shop took a huge hit from the COVID pandemic in 2020 when revenues were just $37,406.
Still, she says the family trust contains nearly $800,000.
Meanwhile Rick believes Joanne is being played, saying: “I think my mother is being manipulated by others who are not looking out for her best interests.”