Hollywood Heavies, Beware: Bribery Is The Watchword Of The Day

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Hollywood Heavies, Beware: Bribery Is The Watchword Of The Day

Tue Jun 10, 2008 @ 01:57PM PST

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Could Hollywood power-brokers be ensnared in a gigantic sting operation cracking down on foreign government bribery?

Recently, the Justice Department decided to prosecute "Rescue Dawn" producer Gerald Green and his wife for allegedly paying more than $900,000 in bribes to a high-level Thai government official to run an international film festival in Bangkok.

The two are being charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has recently cracked down on companies in many industries. As anybody who has seen the last couple seasons of "The Wire" knows, there's nothing more that feds like these days than a good ol' political corruption case. We imagine that few in this administration have any love for Hollywood either.

Now there's talk in Hollywood that the DOJ may look to target others in Hollywood.

No specific investigation other than the Green case has surfaced, but last year, the LA Times reported that $237,386 was distributed by producers of the film "Sahara" on locations in Morocco to expedite filming.

Surely, this isn't the only instance of something like this happening. Those concerned may with to peruse this report by law firm, Shearman & Sterling, about the growing federal appetite for using the FCPA.

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The Hollywood Reporter, Esq. blog focuses on how the entertainment and media industries are impacted and influenced by the law. It is edited by Matthew Belloni with contributions from veteran legal reporter Eriq Gardner and others. Before joining The Hollywood Reporter, Belloni was a lawyer at an entertainment litigation firm in Los Angeles. He writes a column for THR devoted to entertainment law. Gardner is a New York-based writer and legal journalist. Send tips or comments to [email protected]

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