In the slammer:
Media Decoder - Behind the Scenes, Between the Lines
May 12, 2010, 6:30 pm
Indie Film Distributor Sentenced in Film Festival Scam
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
A word to the many indie film types headed for the annual film festival just getting under way in Cannes: Let the seller beware. The United States attorney’s office in Los Angeles on Wednesday said that an independent film distributor, Harel Goldstein, was sentenced to four years in federal prison after having pleaded guilty to bank fraud in a scheme that bilked Comerica Bank of more than $7 million.
According to federal officials, Mr. Goldstein forged deal memos showing commitments from foreign distributors at festivals like Cannes, then gave them to Comerica as collateral for $35 million in loans to produce films starring Peter O’Toole, Alicia Silverstone, Treat Williams and others.
Mr. Goldstein said the whole scheme had been dreamed up by a film producer, but prosecutors eventually decided it was really Mr. Goldstein’s own idea. On Wednesday, Judge S. James Otero ordered Mr. Goldstein to prison for a term that was on “the high end of the sentence range,” a statement from the United States attorney’s office said.
