Kathy Ireland Says Ex-Partners Stole $100M From Her

Kathy Ireland says the empire that made her one of America's most famous "model-turned-moguls" was quietly crumbling behind the scenes, she says in a new interview with Good Morning America. The former Sports Illustrated swimsuit star alleges that longtime business partners carried out a years-long financial scheme that wiped out more than $100 million and wrecked her credit, and she's now suing.

She told interviewer Juju Chang that the management of her company was essentially "a sham" and that her family had been "betrayed on a staggering and unconscionable scale." Ireland, once estimated by Forbes to be worth $420 million through her licensing and product lines, says she is now facing difficult choices, including being forced to sell her home and worrying about not having retirement funds.

Ireland says she first grew suspicious when she and her husband were turned down as co-signers on a mortgage for their son and daughter-in-law, and learned only then that their own credit had been badly damaged. "We believed our bills were being paid, and they were not," she said, describing her reaction as shock. Her attorney, Jill Basinger, told ABC they are still trying to trace where the money went and suspect a mortgage and equity may have been taken out on Ireland's home and tied to a life insurance policy without her full understanding.

The defendants, in a statement to ABC, reject Ireland's accusations as "false, defamatory, and unsupported by any documentation." They argue that all disputed loans carry Ireland's signature and that they were partners and equal shareholders with her, not managers secretly controlling her finances. Courthouse News, however, describes the defendants as a married couple that had acted as Ireland's managers since 1989. Ireland's lawsuit claims they told Ireland they were managing investments and building wealth. The current CEO of Ireland's company as well as other associates are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, People reports. Ireland, who says she long focused on products and customers rather than the books, now insists she will no longer "shut up and pose," and called on her former associates to "do the right thing" while the legal battle plays out.