ITV fires Gurneys, sues for fraud

Gurney show Duck Dynasty has been cancelled by A&E

ITV America has dismissed the founders of its US prodco Gurney Productions, the firm behind recently cancelled Duck Dynasty, and is suing them for fraud.

The news comes just days after UK-based ITV temporarily suspended Scott and Deirdre Gurney amid an internal financial investigation.

A Gurney Productions spokesman said in a statement: “Following a meeting with Scott and Deirdre Gurney, the board of Gurney Productions has been left with no alternative but to terminate their employment and file a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California on the grounds of self-dealing, fraudulent concealment and breach of contract.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Gurneys secretly established a new company, Snake River Productions, in August that was competing with Gurney Productions, which ITV bought for US$40m in 2012.

A month later, it is claimed that Snake River bought distribution rights to reality show Northern Territory from Gurney Productions for US$3.6m to inflate Gurney’s EBITDA.

The lawsuit outlines: “After the Gurneys sold a majority interest in the company to ITV and promised, among other things, not to compete with the company while they were employed by the company, the Gurneys secretly formed a new production company that they owned and controlled, Snake River Productions.

Deirdre and Scott Gurney

“They formed Snake River as part of an unlawful plan to misappropriate the company’s corporate opportunities for themselves and to artificially inflate the company’s EBITDA.

“By engaging in these wrongful activities, the Gurneys sought to generate profits for themselves at the expense of the company and ITV and also sought to defraud ITV by securing a substantially higher payout for themselves and their closely held company, Little Win LLC when ITV bought them out.”

The complaint also outlines allegations of employee poaching and use of other firms’ resources to benefit Snake River. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that Scott Gurney took an improper US$350,000 distribution fee from the company in January, with the board only discovering this in September.

ITV has brought in 5×5 Media co-founder Craig Armstrong to serve as interim CEO of Gurney.

The Gurneys could not be reached for comment.

The revelations came after A&E last month brought down the curtain on Gurney’s reality hit Duck Dynasty, with the 11th season set to be its last.