【Netherlands】

Chip Gaines,Netherlands the charmingly goofy half of the husband-wife duo that have made Fixer Uppera huge success for HGTV, took to Twitter to address fraud charges levied at him by a couple of former partners.

Last week, John L. Lewis and Richard L. Clark filed a lawsuit against Gaines and his wife, Joanna, for allegedly buying them out of their shares in Magnolia Realty without telling them about plans for launching the television show.

According to the lawsuit, the pair alleges that Gaines bought out their share of the company on May 6, 2013 and then announced the show two days later on May, 8, 2013.

Lewis and Clark paid Gaines $2,500 each for their share of the company but now claim the couple withheld "inside information" about the development of Fixer Upperand are demanding $1 million plus their portion of the company back or other financial compensation.

On Friday, Gaines tweeted a Bible verse (John 1:5) in what many took to be a reference to the lawsuit.

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Another tweet from Gaines was far more straight-forward in terms of the topic.

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The Gaines' attorney, Jordan Mayfield, told Peoplemagazine, “We are confident that these claims will be found to be meritless, and it is disappointing to see people try to take advantage of the hard work and success of Chip and Joanna Gaines."

Mashablehas reached out to Mayfield and HGTV for further comment.

The week prior, the couple responded to rumors that Joanna was leaving the show to focus on a line of cosmetics and both shot down the rumor.

Joanna herself blogged, "Always remember: if you’re reading big, exciting news about us, and we did not confirm it on our official sites, then proceed with caution."

And Chip called the story "fake" in response to a fan on Twitter.

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For now, the Gaines are keeping plenty busy, having aired the last episode of Fixer Upper's fourth season in March and continuing work on their new spin-off, Fixer Upper:Behind The Design.

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