Convicted Producer Garth Drabinsky Banned From Running Publicly Traded Companies

By: Jun. 16, 2017
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The Ontario Securities Commission has decided to permanently ban Garth Drabinsky from being a director or officer in a public company. The 16 year old case finally concluded today. The case launched in 2001 but was put on hold while his criminal case made its way through the court system.

Drabinsky defrauded investors of an estimated $500 million.

Drabinsky was most recently a "Creative Producer" on the flop musical Sousatzka in Toronto.

Drabinsky previously served Jail time in Canada for fraud and forgery during his time as the head of Livent. Livent, of course, was once a division of Cineplex Odeon which produced the Sousatzka film before being bought out by Drabinsky and his then business partner Myron Gottlieb.

Gottlieb was given the same decision from the Ontario Securities Commission.

CP24/The Canadian Press reports that "Drabinsky's counsel had argued that he has unique and valuable talents as a creative producer that the entertainment industry can benefit from. Drabinsky cannot function as a creative producer - his only means of making a living - if he cannot interact with investors, his lawyers said."

Drabinsky was never tried for his crimes in the United States - it's unclear if he would ever be able to return as a producer.

Livent was one of North America's biggest live theatre companies in the 1990s but has since gone out of business. The company had produced such Broadway shows as Ragtime, Showboat, The Phantom of the Opera (Toronto) and Kiss of the Spider Woman.



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