Shareholder sues Pulse over alleged US$80,000 loan
Published:Sunday | October 12, 2025 | 12:11 AM
Pulse Investments Limited, the publicly listed modelling and entertainment company, is facing a lawsuit in the Supreme Court over an alleged unpaid shareholder loan of US$80,000 (approximately J$12.4 million).
The lawsuit was filed on August 25 by top-10 shareholder Hortense Waul, a businesswoman and retired physical therapy assistant who owns a 2.575 per cent stake in the company, according to Pulse’s 2024 annual report published on the Jamaica Stock Exchange website.
Court documents indicate that Waul is seeking repayment of the principal sum, along with interest at a rate of 16.97 per cent per annum from March 31, 2024. She is also asking the court to declare that the funds were a loan to the company, which Pulse is obligated to repay. Using the Bank of Jamaica’s average selling rate of $155.32 for US$1 in June 2023, the alleged US$80,000 loan would be about $12.4 million in Jamaican dollar
The dispute centres on a loan allegedly agreed around June 24, 2023, following an approach by Kingsley Cooper, Pulse’s co-founder and former chairman, who passed away in June 2024. Waul claims Cooper said the funds were needed “for the purpose of advancing the business of the company”.
According to Waul, she had previously loaned US$70,000 that Cooper sought on behalf of Pulse in 2022 under similar circumstances, which the company repaid later that year. Based on that precedent, she agreed to lend US$80,000 in June 2023, wiring the funds to Pulse’s National Commercial Bank account. She says the agreement called for full repayment by March 31, 2024.
Cooper’s death
However, Pulse “defaulted on its agreement to repay” by the agreed date despite repeated verbal and written demands, the claim said. Waul claims the situation worsened after Cooper’s death, raising concerns about the security of her funds. She alleges that Pulse or its representatives later “sought to dispute that a loan was made to the defendant company”.
“There is no bona fide dispute as to the existence of this debt as the defendant is unable to deny receipt of the funds or to allege that the funds have been repaid,” she stated.
“The defendant has since continued to refuse and/or fail to discharge the debt due and owing under the loan agreement, despite being in receipt of the verbal and written demands of the claimant including a statutory demand. As a result, therefore, the claimant has suffered loss and continues to incur expenses as a result of the defendant’s breach of the said agreement,” added the filings.
Pulse has acknowledged being served with the claim but has yet to file a defence. In an official filing on September 29, the company stated its intention to contest the lawsuit but added that it “does not admit any part of the claim for a specified sum of money”.
“The matter is in a very preliminary stage in the courts. We’re hopeful that it doesn’t have to go much further,” said Ingrid Lee Clarke-Bennett of Kingdom Chambers, the law firm representing Waul, when contacted by The Sunday Gleaner.
Kevin Williams, attorney for Pulse from Grant, Stewart, Phillips & Co, confirmed the company is preparing its response.
“Our client’s defence is due within 42 days of service. We haven’t filed it yet. It will be known once it is filed,” Williams told The Sunday Gleaner.
No hearing date has been set.
Waul’s daughter, Romae Gordon – a former international fashion model and Cooper’s spouse – resigned in March as co-managing director of Pulse.