Stan Lee, comic book legend, has filed against a former company of his for over one billion dollars.
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The lawsuit was filed Tuesday at Los Angelas Superior Court against Pow! Entertainment. The suit says that the company and two of it’s employees specifically conspired to steal Stan Lee’s identity, allegedly. The lawsuit, which was obtained by CNN, named CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion. It reads that these two men, “conspired and agreed to broker a sham deal to sell POW! to a company in China and fraudulently steal Stan Lee’s identity, name, image, and likeness as part of a nefarious scheme to benefit financially at Lee’s expense.”
How does this happen right under his nose? Well, to start, Stan Lee is 95 years old. Unfortunately, the elderly (even if there are still lively) are often subject to these types of schemes, especially when grieving. Last year, Stan Lee’s wife of 70 years, Joan B Lee, passed away. This suit centers around a deal with Hong Kong that happened just after her passing.
Lee believed he was entering into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Pow! Entertainment. A non-exclusive agreement would have been very lucrative for Lee. Basically it would have allowed others to manufacture reproductions, either numbered or mass-produced, of his work for compensation.
The suit alleges that the defendants fraudulently obtained Lee’s signature for, “the exclusive right to use Lee’s name, identity, image and likeness on a worldwide basis in perpetuity.” There are actually multiple reasons this really could be true. The complaint references taking advantage over the grief and mass amounts of paperwork that came with his wife’s passing. All paperwork has to be read to Lee due to his eyesight. He has advanced macular degeneration. Lee doesn’t recall ever being read paperwork that would basically sign over his identity. “Lee does not recall anyone reading the Illegitimate Document to him, and, due to his advanced macular degeneration, he could not have read it himself,” states the filed complaint.
Another reason it seems unlikely that Stan Lee would have ever signed papers stating the released of his likeness and name is that he wouldn’t sell unlimited rights to Disney in 2009 when they acquired Marvel Entertainment in a four billion dollar deal.
Pow! Entertainment released a counter-statement that read, “The notion that Mr. Lee did not knowingly grant POW! exclusive rights to his creative works or his identity is so preposterous that we have to wonder whether Mr. Lee is personally behind this lawsuit. There is no question Mr. Lee — who, along with his daughter, was and remains a substantial POW! shareholder — clearly understood the terms of the agreements he signed. The evidence, which includes Mr. Lee’s subsequent statements and conduct, is overwhelming and we look forward to presenting it in court.”
In April, Stan Lee had filed against another former business manager, Jerardo Olivarez. In that lawsuit, Lee alludes that Olivarez convinced him to sign Olivarez over as his Power of Attorney to gain control over his financial assets. The suit is filed as fraud and financial abuse of an elder.
Olivarez has a different story, “I had looked out for him during recent contract negotiations with Pow! [Entertainment]. He gave me a check as a thank-you.” The former manager even claims, “Mr. Lee told me I had given him a new lease on life after Mrs. Lee’s passing.”
The suit also says that those named in the lawsuit took advantage of his vulnerability once they had control by firing his banker, his lawyers, transferring nearly $5 million out of one of his personal bank accounts and buying a condo for $890,000. These are things that can be confirmed when the case is presented in court.
A close friend to Lee, Keya Morgan, said that, “He’s feeling a lot better because he feels now he’s on a road to regaining what’s his.”
Morgan says, “Stan would never want anyone to have his most precious possession, which is his identity.”
