Kitson Founder Files Lawsuit Against Former Chief Executive

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The dust has yet to settle around the closing of the once trendy West Hollywood boutique Kitson, which closed its doors in December.

Its founder Fraser Ross maintains that Chris Lee, former chief executive of Kitson, defrauded him out of millions and engaged in unfair competition in a complaint filed Tuesday.

The suit makes a number of allegations against Lee such as one stating the executive convinced Ross to loan Kitson $2 million in January of last year on a false assumption that the cash infusion would help the retailer appear more attractive to potential buyers or investors.

It goes on to state Lee’s entire tenure at Kitson was met with everything from “improper and unauthorized salary and personal expenses” to hiring “unqualified employees with personal affiliations, including his wife”

The move comes on the heels of a separate complaint filed last month by Ross against Century City law firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell and Partner Jeffrey Sultan that alleges the firm committed malpractice by jointly representing Ross, Kitson, and Lee, in transactions where their interests were not aligned.

Ross declined to comment on the suits.

Kitson launched in 2000 on Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood. Ross hired Lee, former senior vice president at Forever 21, in 2011 to replace him as chief executive to help push the company’s retail expansion nationally and abroad.

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