Garth Drabinsky

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Garth Drabinsky
Born Garth Howard Drabinsky
(1949-10-27) October 27, 1949 (age 74)
Toronto, Ontario
Nationality Canadian
Occupation Film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur

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 on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a subsequent appeal.

Film and theatrical career

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.[1] Entering into the entertainment business in 1978 as an independent commercial film producer (through Tiberius Entertainment Limited, formed with Joel Michaels)[2] and film distributor (through Pan-Canadian Film Distributors Inc., formed with Nat Taylor),[3] 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.[3] 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.[3] 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:

Tony Award for Best Musical * Tony Award for Best Musical Revival **

After Livent

Drabinsky is still active in the Canadian entertainment industry, through Tiberius Entertainment[5] (now known as Garth H. Drabinsky Productions).[6] In 2011, it promoted the film Barrymore at the Toronto International Film Festival, based on the play with Christopher Plummer.[7] Drabinsky is now partnering with former CBC executive Richard Stursberg to raise funds for two musicals.[8] In October, 2015, Drabinsky was diagnosed with cancer and is receiving chemotherapy.[citation needed]

Livent insolvency and subsequent proceedings

In November 1998, Livent sought bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada, claiming a debt of $334 million,[9] 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.[10] Drabinsky was sentenced to seven years in jail on Wednesday August 5, 2009 for his role in the case.[11]

Drabinsky filed an appeal in the Ontario Court of Appeal with respect to his sentence on September 3, 2009.[12] 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.[13] Drabinsky applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, and the application was dismissed without costs on March 29, 2012.[14][15] 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,[16] and was released on day parole in February 2013.[5] Drabinsky was granted full parole on January 20, 2014.[17]

Administrative proceedings were initiated against Livent, Drabinsky and others by the Ontario Securities Commission in 2001,[18] and they were suspended in 2002 until all outstanding criminal proceedings had been completed.[19] In February 2013, the OSC announced that hearings would take place on March 19, 2013, in the matter.[20] 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.[21][22]

US proceedings

In January 1999, Livent reached an administrative settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission,[23] while civil and criminal proceedings were simultaneously pursued against Drabinsky, Gottlieb and certain other former Livent employees.[24]

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,[25] for which enforcement of the judgment was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2008.[26]

Arrest warrants are outstanding with respect to the US criminal proceedings,[27][28][29] but double jeopardy rules prevent US extradition proceedings from taking place, because of the conviction in Canadian courts.[30]

Disbarment

On July 17, 2014 Drabinsky was disbarred by the Tribunal of the Law Society of Upper Canada[31] 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.[32]

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.[33] Drabinsky subsequently filed an application in the Federal Court of Canada to block his removal,[34] which was dismissed on January 9, 2014.[35] He subsequently appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. The appeal was heard in December 2014,[36] and rejected the following month,[37] when the court held that there was "no basis" for it to intervene in the matter.[38]

Bibliography and documentary

Books
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Documentary

Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky by director Barry Avrich at IMDb: premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012.[39][40]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Barrymore (2011) at IMDb
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., discussing R v Drabinsky 2009 CanLII 12802 (25 March 2009), Superior Court of Justice (Ontario, Canada)
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found., discussing R v Drabinsky 2009 CanLII 41220 (5 August 2009), Superior Court of Justice (Ontario, Canada)
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ R v Drabinsky 2011 ONCA 582 (13 September 2011)
  14. ↑ Garth Howard Drabinsky v. Her Majesty the Queen 2012 CanLII 16927 (29 March 2012), Supreme Court (Canada)
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ King v Drabinsky 2008 ONCA 566, 91 OR (3d) 616 (28 July 2008); leave to appeal dismissed, Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb v. Dorian King and Diane King 2009 CanLII 6003 (12 February 2009), Supreme Court (Canada)
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Gray, Jeff and Janet McFarland, "Ontario's law Society disbars Garth Drabinsky", Globe and Mail (Toronto).
  32. ↑ Law Society of Upper Canada v. Drabinsky, 2014 ONLSTH 139 (17 July 2014)
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Drabinsky v. Canada (Advisory Council of the Order) 2015 FCA 5 (9 January 2015), affirming Drabinsky v. Advisory Council of the Order of Canada 2015 FC 21 (8 January 2014)
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Kirshner, Sheldon, The rise and fall of Garth Drabinsky, The Canadian Jewish News, 21 September 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.

External links

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