Boohoo founder is facing £118m legal battle

Mahmud Kamani

One of Manchester’s most successful businessmen has been hit with a £118.5 law suit by an IT specialist.

Richard Womack is claiming to be the third founders of fashion giant Boohoo.

The company was founded by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane in 2006.+

Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane

Last year revenues at the firm soared by 48% to £856.9m with pre-tax profit rising by 38% to £59.9m.

The business now has more than 11 million customer accounts across its brands worldwide, reportedly selling 50 dresses a minute.

And Mr Kamani, whose family is worth £1.2billion according to the Sunday Times Rich List, is now being sued for a slice of his fortune.

Manchester based JMW Solicitors is representing Richard Womack, who has brought a claim against Mr Kamani for breach of an agreement.

Womack began working with Mahmud Kamani in 1998, providing IT consultancy services for his business, Pinstripe Clothing Co. Limited.

In February 2006, Mr Kamani approached Mr Womack to request that he develop a website to sell clothing online.

According to the claim Mr Kamani had no IT knowledge at all and relied entirely on the IT specialist to complete the extensive project independently.

The aim was to get the website up and running as cheaply as possible, with Mr Womack working extensively to fulfil the development contract.

According to the law suit Mr Womack spent almost two years building the infrastructure for the website, including developing bespoke stock management software as part of the process.

He also created the coding of the website, the database, integrated stock lines, organised and bought equipment for photoshoots, decided the “look and feel” of the website and chose the “Boohoo” logo.

He also calms to have paid for the hosting of the website out of his own pocket.

When the website was operational and ready to take orders, the very first user in the database was Mr Womack.

The first order was from Mr Womack, and all initial orders were directed to his email address.

When the website launched at the Clothes Show Live in December 2006 Mr Womack claims to have designed Boohoo’s stand and was present throughout, helping to collect contact details of interested customers.

Shortly afterwards, a meeting was held at the company’s office, during which Mr Womack claims to have outlined the substantial work he had carried out in relation to the source code and creation of the database.

Mr Womack claims he was promised a ten per cent share in Boohoo at the meeting.

On the basis of this promise Mr Womack agreed to share the source code and database and continued to expend his time working for the Company.

He worked for many years without remuneration for his work on the website – and with no capacity to earn money elsewhere – in the belief that he would enjoy the fruits of his labour.

He became heavily involved in the management and control of Boohoo, including negotiating contracts, placing orders, dealing with complaints and working on commercial issues beyond the website, developing key ideas for concepts and running marketing campaigns.

But Richard Womack says has never been rewarded for the work undertaken for the Boohoo website since 2006.

He: “When I look back on those years, I remember how much time and energy – how much of my life – was invested in creating the Boohoo e-commerce platform and making a success of the business during the brand’s early years.

“It has continued to sap my energy since – it’s very galling to have had zero recognition for the part I played and the time, the money and expertise I invested.

“I’ve never received a single penny for my work on the Boohoo website and it’s just not right – particularly when, the reality is, Boohoo has three founders, not two.

“We agreed that I would receive a ten per cent share in the company by way of remuneration for the work I did and that’s all I ask for – what was agreed.”

Marc Yaffe, partner and head of commercial litigation at JMW Solicitors, said: “We are representing Richard Womack as he seeks to secure the agreed recompense for the work delivered for Mahmud Kamani.”

A spokesman for the Kamani called Womack’s demands ‘opportunistic’ and said he has previously attempted to extract money from the billionaire Boohoo co-founder.

And a spokesman for Kamani’s law firm Pannone Corporate, added: “Womack’s allegations are entirely without merit.”

Pepin Aslett at St John’s Buildings is acting as the barrister advising Richard Womack.

 

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