Mother of ‘Pawn Stars’ celebrity seeks restraining order against son
The 81-year-old mother of “Pawn Stars” celebrity Rick Harrison has filed for a temporary restraining order against her son in the latest salvo of the family’s legal battle over money from a family trust and other investments.
District Court records show Joanne Harrison requested the restraining order against Rick through her attorney, Liane Wakayama, on Monday. Joanne is suing her son in a dispute over a family trust, cash and silver, distributions from investments, and ownership shares of the famed Gold & Silver Pawn Shop.
Wakayama wrote in an affidavit Monday that “Joanne is concerned that at any given time Rick could again and unilaterally and without notice stop issuing monthly distributions to Joanne.”
The request for the restraining order seeks to have a judge order Rick Harrison to not change monthly distributions to his mother of $25,000.
“While Rick enjoys his comfortable life as a celebrity firmly in control of all the family businesses and finances, Joanne is left frightened and unsure if she will have enough resources to pay for her considerable medical and personal expenses each month,” Wakayama said in the filing.
A spokeswoman for Rick Harrison emailed a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal Tuesday morning.
“Rick was unaware of these recent filings but did say, ‘I think my mother is being manipulated by others who are not looking out for her best interests. I’ve tried to reach her numerous times over the last several months and am unable to do so. In fact, one of the companies she is suing is owned 100 percent by my mother.’”
Rick Harrison also previously said the lawsuit is without merit.
The pawn shop is featured on the television hit “Pawn Stars,” which is currently in its 19th season. The lawsuit says after her husband Richard’s death, Joanne inherited her husband’s shares in the pawn shop, but that Rick has failed to provide her complete documentation of the business finances. The suit also says before Richard Harrison died, he’d accumulated about $500,000 in silver and $100,000 in cash, but Joanne has been unable to get a proper accounting of the valuables.
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Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.