Nationality Canadian Awards Golden Screen Award | Name Garth Drabinsky | |
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Full Name Garth Howard Drabinsky Spouse Elizabeth Winford (m. 2005) Books Motion Pictures and the Arts in Canada: The Business and the Law, Garth: The Story So Far Movies and TV shows Triple Sensation, The Changeling, The Gospel of John, Half Light, The Amateur Similar People Barry Avrich, John Coquillon, Peter Medak, Raymond Moriyama, Philip Saville | ||
Broadway producer garth drabinsky who served several years in prison for fraud banned from becomin
Garth Howard Drabinsky, LL.B. is a Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery. The sentence was reduced from 7 to 5 years in prison, on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a subsequent appeal.
Contents
- Broadway producer garth drabinsky who served several years in prison for fraud banned from becomin
- Show Stopper The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky Full Movie
- Film
- Theatre
- After Livent
- Livent insolvency and subsequent proceedings
- Canadian proceedings
- US proceedings
- Disbarment
- Order of Canada
- References
Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky Full Movie
Film
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Drabinsky graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1973, and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1975. Entering into the entertainment business in 1978 as an independent commercial film producer (through Tiberius Entertainment Limited, formed with Joel Michaels) and film distributor (through Pan-Canadian Film Distributors Inc., formed with Nat Taylor), he was credited as the producer for:
In April 1979, he and Nat Taylor co-founded Cineplex Theatres, which created a chain of multiplex theatres for the Canadian market. By May 1984, it had acquired the Canadian Odeon Theatre chain, thus becoming Cineplex Odeon and a major player in the industry. It expanded further through the acquisition of several US theatre chains, but he left the company in December 1989.
Theatre
He leveraged his ownership of the Pantages Theatre in Toronto to form the publicly traded theatre production company, Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada, Inc., also known as Livent. The company expanded, building or refurbishing several theatres, including the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, and entered into management deals with others in Toronto, Vancouver, and New York. It became noted for its productions (which earned a total of 19 Tony Awards out of a total of 61 nominations) of:
After Livent
Drabinsky is still active in the Canadian entertainment industry, through Tiberius Entertainment (now known as Garth H. Drabinsky Productions). In 2011, it promoted the film Barrymore at the Toronto International Film Festival, based on the play with Christopher Plummer. Drabinsky is now partnering with former CBC executive Richard Stursberg to raise funds for two musicals. Drabinsky closed Sousztaka after receiving bad reviews.
Livent insolvency and subsequent proceedings
In November 1998, Livent sought bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada, claiming a debt of $334 million, and securities regulators in both Canada and the US began investigating Livent's books.
Canadian proceedings
On March 25, 2009, Drabinsky and Livent co-founder Myron Gottlieb were found guilty of fraud and forgery in Ontario Superior Court for misstating the company's financial statements between 1993 and 1998. Drabinsky was sentenced to seven years in jail on August 5, 2009 for his role in the case.
Drabinsky filed an appeal in the Ontario Court of Appeal with respect to his sentence on September 3, 2009. During that appeal, he remained free on bail. On September 13, 2011, the Court of Appeal, while upholding the convictions, reduced Drabinsky's sentence to 5 years. Drabinsky applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, and the application was dismissed without costs on March 29, 2012. Drabinsky was originally held at Millhaven Institution, for assessment. In December 2011, he was transferred to serve out his sentence at Beaver Creek Institution, a minimum security prison, located in Gravenhurst, Ontario, and was released on day parole in February 2013. Drabinsky was granted full parole on January 20, 2014.
Administrative proceedings were initiated against Livent, Drabinsky and others by the Ontario Securities Commission in 2001, and they were suspended in 2002 until all outstanding criminal proceedings had been completed. In February 2013, the OSC announced that hearings would take place on March 19, 2013, in the matter. Myron Gottlieb and Gordon Eckstein, who were the other parties in the proceedings, subsequently entered into settlement agreements with the OSC in September 2014 and May 2015 respectively.
in 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission permanently banned Drabinsky from becoming a director or officer of any public company in Ontario. The OSC also prohibited him from acting as an investment promoter, and banned him from trading securities (other than as a retail investor, for trades within his RRSP or through a registered dealer for accounts in his name only).
US proceedings
In January 1999, Livent reached an administrative settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, while civil and criminal proceedings were simultaneously pursued against Drabinsky, Gottlieb and certain other former Livent employees.
In 2005, former investors in Livent corporate bonds won a $23.3 million settlement against Drabinsky and Gottlieb in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, for which enforcement of the judgment was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2008.
Arrest warrants are outstanding with respect to the US criminal proceedings, but double jeopardy rules prevent US extradition proceedings from taking place, because of the conviction in Canadian courts.
Disbarment
On July 17, 2014 Drabinsky was disbarred by the Tribunal of the Law Society of Upper Canada for unbecoming conduct, having been found guilty of defrauding the public and forging certain financial statements. The Tribunal's order, effective immediately, revoked his license to practice law in the province of Ontario.
Order of Canada
On November 29, 2012, Governor General David Johnston signed an Ordinance of Termination revoking Drabinsky's membership in the Order of Canada, originally conferred in 1995 in the Officer grade. Drabinsky subsequently filed an application in the Federal Court of Canada to block his removal, which was dismissed on January 9, 2014. He subsequently appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. The appeal was heard in December 2014, and rejected the following month, when the court held that there was "no basis" for it to intervene in the matter.