He sold top business minds on a TV show that promised to save the world – and make them famous. They handed over thousands. Then reality set in. Now they’re suing and taking aim at each other in court.
“The big boys of the entertainment world came out of their ivory tower and thought they were going to change things … but then they wanted to be free of the responsibility,” said Jim McGovern, who won a lawsuit against Oprah for millions he said he didn’t agree to pay to become the anchor for a show McGovern and his pals created, based on his book, “I Am the Best at What I Do.”
The suit also names McGovern’s former business partner, Donald E. West, the star of the show, as well as two others with whom McGovern had a business venture: Michael Pomeroy, the son of a Los Angeles-area developer, and his wife, Darlene, a former secretary and longtime Hollywood executive. Pomeroy and the other defendants declined to comment. “The truth is, I didn’t get an offer from this man,” said Michael Pomeroy.
“I tried to be fair to Oprah and Mr. West with my book and told them what I know,” McGovern said. “That’s the difference between me and him. The guy has a lot of money, he is smart, he is going to say something he wants to say, and he will have a story. Jim is telling it like it is. He wrote his book, his book talks about his own mistakes. I wrote mine, and my book was autobiographical, which means it was about me, not about anyone else.
“Jim wrote that he had been humiliated and lost the confidence of his wife, who was not going to be part of the deal,” McGovern added. “I was honest about that and told the truth. I was going to