A co-founder of fast-fashion juggernaut Boohoo is being sued for £20million by a former colleague with whom he set up another clothing brand – after she claimed he shut her out of a large share of the company amidst a two-year affair.
Jalal Kamani, 64, who describes himself as a founding director in the firm, is being taken to court by businesswoman Leanne Holmes following a fall-out after they went into business together.
Ms Holmes, 41, says she was recruited by the businessman after he left the company to a start new venture, super-cheap fashion firm I Saw It First (ISIF) – which later became the sponsor of, and provider of clothing to, ITV reality series Love Island.
She claims she was owed a 10 per cent shareholding worth £20m and put in 100-hour weeks to grow the company. But she was dismissed from the company in 2021.
Mr Kamani has denied her claims and a civil trial is expected to be held in Manchester next summer.
In court documents, Ms Holmes claims she was told ISIF would be ‘her company to run’ after she left Boohoo to start the new company.
She joined Boohoo as a merchandiser before moving to PrettyLittleThing, run by the sons of Mr Kamani’s brother Mahmud until 2017, after which she joined ISIF as a ‘co-founder and buying, merchandising and brand director’, according to an online CV.
Ms Holmes alleges in court documents that she would be given a 10 per cent shareholding in the company that would be worth the £20million she is seeking.
She claims that offer was then cut to five per cent after Mr Kamani’s business partner was dissatisfied with her share. A Companies House filing in April 2018 shows she has a five per cent share
Following a £15million cash injection, more shares were created and awarded to Mr Kamani – reducing her ownership of shares to a reported 0.02 per cent. Companies House filings for March 2022
Mr Kamani’s sons were also reportedly awarded a large number of shares, further diluting her stake in the company.
Amidst this, Ms Holmes said she had an affair with Mr Kamani that started in 2018 and lasted around two years.
This extended to, she said, being given two large sums of money, one of which was to pay for her house. He says the payments were ‘loans’ and wants the cash back.
His legal team told The Times, which first reported the claims: ‘Mr Kamani was generous and wished to bestow that generosity upon her.’
Further, she alleges that she and other female staff were subject to discrimination and harassment by her one-time business partner and lover.
Mr Kamani’s team, in contrast, says bullying complaints were made about Holmes from other members of staff, received in September and November 2021.
ISIF’s accounts, which are overdue for last year, lost £2.2million in the year to April 2022, down from a loss of £7.75million the year before.
The company was acquired by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group in 2022 for a nominal sum of £1.