'American Chopper' star sued for fraud after allegedly sabotaging a TV project

Orange County Choppers: Building the American Dream by hand

Americans are no strangers to earning an honest living through working with their hands. Fox’s ‘American Roots’ focuses on proud Americans who make a living doing just that, and is kicking it off with ‘American Chopper’ star and Orange County Choppers’ Lead Designer Jason Pohl.

“American Chopper” star Paul Teutul Sr. is being sued for allegedly sabotaging a TV project and costing his business partner millions of dollars.

Page Six obtained the Delaware State Chancery Court documents filed in April, which claim that Teutul used Thomas Derbyshire’s investment in an “American Chopper” reboot to fund his personal expenses.

Derbyshire said that he agreed to work with Teutul on the show “Orange County Choppers: American Made” for A&E in 2015, but their business agreement quickly went south after Teutul tried to change their 51/49 percent ownership deal (benefiting Derbyshire) to a 50/50 deal. Derbyshire had agreed to fund the project up to $3 million at that time.

He claimed that Teutul held up production by taking a weeklong “fishing trip to his cabin in upstate New York” and refusing to film with “Sons of Anarchy” star and president of the Southern California chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, Rusty Coones. Scenes with Coones were part of his contract with A&E, according to the lawsuit.

Derbyshire also alleged that Teutul made side deals without consulting him, including “a contract with a dog food manufacturer to show their product on the program in exchange for giving [his] girlfriend a container full of dog food for her dog rescue project” and “a free car lift for [Orange County Choppers] in exchange for filming the car lift on the show [and] promoting the brand, but the car lift was kept for OCC’s uses.” He also claimed that Teutul used the company’s money to pay his son Michael’s salary, even though that was not part of their budget.

Derbyshire also claimed that Teutul used the equipment that Derbyshire purchased for a separate revival.

Teutul denied any wrongdoing in his own court filings, and his rep Paris D’Jon, of HYPE Projects Agency, told us, “As we have previously stated as far back as April 10th of 2017, unfortunately, Mr. Derbyshire’s interpretation of said events is without merit and with the timing of Orange County Choppers much anticipated return to television tomorrow night the timing is very suspect of once again untrue allegations.”

The case is still ongoing.

Page Six previously reported that Teutul’s home is in foreclosure.

This article originally appeared in Page Six.