Grafton, Illinois, March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Joseph and Janice DeSherlia – the husband-wife team that owns and operates Illinois business Grafton Harbor Marina – have just joined a rapidly growing list of small businesses who have filed lawsuits against NBCUniversal and its celebrity star Marcus Lemonis for corruption, misconduct, slander, and misuse of power through deceptive business practices – all to boost ratings for the CNBC show The Profit. The suit also includes the former Mayor of Grafton, Illinois Rick Eberlin, who is reportedly being investigated by Illinois State Police for additional related matters.
Unbelievably, the DeSherlias never once appeared, or even sought to appear on the NBCUniversal show. Yet, in 2019, NBCUniversal produced an episode of The Profit called “Rise of an American Floodtown,” focused on the city of Grafton, Illinois (40 miles from St. Louis) and the town’s recovery after a devastating flood damaged the local tourism economy. Rather than helping the town recover, NBCUniversal and TV star Lemonis used the opportunity as a PR stunt, and then conspired with the (now) former Mayor of the city to lie about the DeSherlias’ business on air, defamed the DeSherlias and their business, and interfered with their contractual obligations, all for the sake of ratings.
On-air discussions between CNBC star Lemonis and former Mayor Rick Eberlin included brazenly false statements about Grafton Harbor Marina owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the city in back rent. And at one point, Lemonis instructs the mayor to stop letting the marina take advantage of the city.
The problem with this TV plotline? None of it was true – the DeSherlias never owed the city back rent. But Lemonis never approached the DeSherlias for their side of the story, despite being told by multiple city officials that the allegation of back taxes was completely false.
Before the episode aired, Grafton Harbor was beloved by locals and tourists, and in talks with several potential buyers for the marina. After the episode aired, the business began to receive a spew of negative reviews online, lost customers, was negatively featured in numerous articles, and all offers were withdrawn.
“It breaks my heart that all the blood, sweat, and tears that my wife and I have put into our business for over fifteen years have been destroyed by a deliberately false narrative on national television that we don’t run our business right,” said Joe DeSherlia, owner of Grafton Harbor Marina. “Being born and raised in Grafton, serving our community and helping put it on the map for tourists was the joy of our lives—but now it’s been completely destroyed.”
“As is typical of every episode of The Profit, the entire episode is smoke and mirrors rooted in depicting Marcus Lemonis as a white knight savior for small business,” said Gerard Fox, counsel to Joseph and Janice DeSherlia. “In a half-baked attempt at feel-good television and for high ratings, NBCUniversal destroyed the reputations and livelihoods of the DeSherlias and devalued their business, manipulating a local politician to do their dirty work.”
During the filming of the show, NBCUniversal’s Lemonis exerted influence over former Mayor Eberlin by bankrolling his wife’s business in a property Lemonis owned, and provided sweetheart deals and all-expenses-paid trips for the two to Key West, Florida. With Lemonis and Eberlin in tow, the mayor coordinated a campaign of harassment against Grafton Harbor to drive down its price with unannounced and unnecessary inspections, misrepresenting the business to various governmental agencies, encouraging litigation against the business, and making false statements to local media.
More than 50 small businesses have publicly claimed wrongdoings by NBCUniversal and Marcus Lemonis. The DeSherlias’ case is a companion lawsuit to two existing cases filed against NBCUniversal for the CNBC television show “The Profit.”: Nicolas Goureau, et. al v. NBCUniversal Media LLC, et. al., Case No. 160490/2021 – NY State Supreme and Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Inc v. NBCUniversal Media LLC, et. al. – Case No. 21STCV41185 – Los Angeles Superior Court.
