Comic John Bishop is suing an Irish businessman for allegedly scamming a software company that he and his son Joseph helped establish.
The comedian and Larry Mullen, a 60-year-old co-shareholder in the firm, have accused Brendan Morrissey and BAK Holdings Limited of stealing approximately £865,000 from their company Hears, which was established to help those with hearing issues.
He asserts that Hears overpaid BAK by about £866,000 for software development services before learning that they were only worth £200,000.
Additionally, the firm asserts that a £474,000 credit for software services that BAK reportedly made available to Hears in exchange for stock in their business was never ever given.
Mr. Morrissey, a well-known IT investor, refutes accusations of fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, and carelessness.
The 55-year-old Scouse actor presently serves on the Hears board in support of his co-founder and son Joseph, who developed the app in 2019 that enables users to take a hearing test on their smartphone and facilitates the purchase of custom hearing aids.
Joseph, 28, who is partly deaf, will appear with his well-known father in an ITV documentary on his hearing loss, which began when he was 15 years old, in which he will also learn more about the deaf community.
In an affidavit read out in court, Mr. Bishop described how the board had earlier this year fired Mr. Morrissey’s wife Karen as company secretary and revoked a bank mandate after a string of payments to BAK.
In order to prevent them from making any more unauthorised payments, they also withdrew him as a director and cut off their access to the business’ bank account.
The Bishops, who came up with the concept and were introduced to Mr. Morrissey by a friend, founded the business alongside the Irishman they thought might help grow it by joining as a partner.
He seemed to be really enthusiastic about the concept of our app and about seeing it through to completion, according to Mr. Bishop.
He said that he has a wide range of pertinent relationships in numerous technological fields throughout the world.
The relationship between Mr. Bishop and Mr. Morrissey allegedly fell apart around the end of last year when Mr. Bishop requested and was denied information on project delays and expenses.
He said that in February of last year, he learned that BAK had received a payment of £500,000—exactly the amount of his personal investment—two years earlier without his or the other directors’ knowledge or consent.
Mr. Bishop said that at the time, only Mr. and Mrs. Morrissey had access to the company’s bank account.
BAK and Mr. Morrissey refute the accusations and assert that BAK delivered services worth £1.4 million to Hears.
The accusations made against the defendants, according to Mr. Morrissey, are “without substance,” he said in his affidavit to the court.
The issue is still on hold, and a hearing to resolve the conflict is anticipated to happen early in 2019.