Credit: Instagram
Kelli Ferrell joined The Real Housewives of Atlanta for the show’s 16th season. The RHOA newbie was open about her bitter divorce from Mark Ferrell in many of the episodes. Now, he has expressed plans to file a lawsuit against Bravo. Additionally, he is accusing Georgia officials of misconduct regarding how the settlement of their divorce was handled.
Kelli and Mark were married in 2011. They have three children together, and she has one older daughter from a previous relationship. Sadly, the two divorced in 2022. She has since alleged that he took money from their Nana’s Chicken & Waffles business and failed to pay child support.
Mark recently held a press conference to announce his plans to sue Bravo, as well as to accuse the Rockdale County Clerk of Court of mishandling his divorce from Kelli. Luckily, The Bravo Shaderoom captured parts of what he had to say. In one of the clips, he said, “The truth is, Kelli doesn’t want resolution. She wants to keep me down.”
He went on, “Because without that storyline, she loses her platform.” Mark then called out the network, saying, “And Bravo, your hands are not clean. You gave airtime to lies that you knew could not be sustained. You put my daughter on national TV without my permission. You built a storyline to destroy my name for entertainment. This is defamation. It will not stand.”
“So today, I inform the world I intend to sue every party that’s played a role in this. Those who withheld my children, who stole my money, who illegally held my home, who ran hearings without jurisdiction, and abused their public office. And who profited off lies,” Mark continued.
He then had a message for his children, which is that he will always love them. Mark also addressed his “supporters” and said, “This is bigger than me.”
Regarding Kelli’s claims that he stole money from the business, he said, “Let me be clear, I never stole money from my business. The funds were from loans and grants. When I saw reckless personal spending, I safeguarded the funds at the recommendation of our then business partner.”
He then said that he “turned over $320,000 to the joint business account before the June hearing” after they both signed a document agreeing not to spend business funds on personal purchases. Mark stated that “every penny was back” after they came to their agreement. This was by December 2022.
He continued, “Yet, in January 2024, I spent over 40 days in jail while my ex-wife and her attorney told the court it had never been repaid. This is false imprisonment. This is fraud, and while Kelli was awarded the business, I was still left with the debt. Til this day, that loan sits on my credit while she uses the business it funded.”
Mark added, “On top of that, her attorney withheld over $74,000 that was legally mine from the sale of our home.” He then briefly discussed the child support order, saying that he has to pay $4,000 per month and that the amount is not based on his income, but instead, the business plan. He said he “offered payments that were rejected.”
Elsewhere in the press conference, he discussed his other perceived injustices. “I watched my name dragged through the mud, my business stolen, my home taken, my children withheld, and my dignity attacked,” Mark said. “The truth is simple: what happened to me was not justice. It was abuse of power.”
Mark went on, “The 2022 hearing that changed my life should have never happened. I was never properly served, and without service, there is no jurisdiction. That means the court never had the legal authority to rule against me. Yet they did.” Mark then discussed how the court overlooked the fact that the business was started with his money and recipes from his family. He stated that Kelli signed an operating agreement that indicated that they were partners.
Mark is now accusing Kelli of lying in court with her claim that she was the sole owner of Nana’s Chicken & Waffles. From there, he specifically called out the Clerk of Court and said that she “posted on social media celebrating Kelli as she took my company.” Mark also says the court threatened him.
According to WALB, he plans to launch lawsuits for defamation, malicious prosecution, and civil rights violations.