Greens found guilty

A federal jury found Hollywood producers, Gerald and Patricia Green, guilty of bribing Thai officials in order to manage the Bangkok Film Festival.

The news was released by the US Department of Justice in Los Angeles, 14 September, following a two and half week trial that closed late last Friday. The Greens were initially arrested in December 2007 and charged in March 2008.

Criminal Division assistant attorney general, Lanny Breuer and acting US attorney for the Central District of California, George Cardona, made the official announcement on the court’s ruling.

Jurors in Los Angeles federal court found the husband and wife guilty of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, eight violations of the FCPA and seven acts of money laundering. In addition, Patricia Green was found guilty of two counts of falsely subscribing a US tax return.

Gerald Green, 77, and Patricia Green, 52, both of West Hollywood, California, were charged with paying kickbacks to the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in exchange for receiving contracts to manage and operate Thailand’s yearly “Bangkok International Film Festival,” as well as contracts to provide an elite tourism “privilege card” marketed to wealthy foreigners.

The Justice Department statement did not identify by name the former TAT governor, Juthamas Siriwan, who has denied involvement, or wrong doing, since the case hit the media in early 2008.

According to the US indictment, the Greens paid approximately US$1.8 million in bribes to the former governor through numerous bank accounts in Singapore, the UK and the Isle of Jersey in the name of the former governor’s daughter and a friend of the former governor. The contracts received by the Greens resulted in more than US$13.5 million in revenue to businesses they owned.

The Greens were charged in count one of the second superseding indictment with conspiracy to violate the FCPA and money laundering laws of the US. Counts two, through 10, charged the defendants with individual acts in violation of the FCPA. Counts 11 through 17 charged the defendants with individual acts in violation of money laundering laws of the US. Count 19 charged defendant Gerald Green with obstruction of justice and counts 20 and 21 charged Patricia Green with falsely subscribing a US Income Tax Return, commonly known as Form 1120, knowing that the false and overstated figure included the bribes to the former governor, described as “commissions.”

The US dismissed count 18 of the superseding indictment, a substantive money laundering count, prior to the case going to the jury. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on count 19, the obstruction of justice count against Gerald Green.

Evidence introduced at trial showed that beginning in 2002 and continuing into 2007, the Greens conspired with others to bribe the former governor of the TAT in order to get the lucrative film festival contracts as well as other TAT contracts.

Trial evidence also showed that in furtherance of the conspiracy, the Greens used different business entities, some with dummy business addresses and telephone numbers, in their dealings with the TAT in order to hide the large amount of money the Greens were being paid under the contracts.

Moreover, the trial evidence showed that the Greens disguised the bribes as “sales commission” payments and made the payments for the benefit of the former governor through the foreign bank accounts of intermediaries, including bank accounts in the name of the former governor’s daughter and friend.

The conspiracy and FCPA charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and each of the money laundering counts carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The false subscription of a US income tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of not more than US$100,000.

Sentencing has been set for 17 December 2009, before the Honorable George Wu in the Central District of California.

This case was prosecuted by Criminal Division’s Fraud Section senior trial attorney, Jonathan Lopez and Central District of California assistant US attorney, Bruce Searby with significant assistance from Fraud Section contract attorney, Allan Medina. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division, Los Angeles Field Office.

Substantial assistance was also provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, in particular Department of Justice Attaché and Intellectual Property Law Enforcement coordinator – Asia, Christopher Sonderby; FBI Legal attaché, Daniel Kelly in Bangkok; and Fraud Section paralegal, Oneika Duncan.

Gerald Green is best known for producing Oliver Stone’s “Salvador” in 1986 and was an executive producer on the 2006 Christian Bale film “Rescue Dawn.”

During the time they organised the Bangkok Film Festival they secured red carpet appearances by stars such as Catherine Deneuve and Michael Douglas and the screening films such as Julie Taymor’s “Frida,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her” and Park Chan-wook’s “Old Boy,” that put the Bangkok Film Festival on the map.

Their involvement with the festival, and the various spin-offs, ended late in 2006, following a military coup that toppled Prime Minsiter Thaksin Shinawatra.

The corrupt practices act became law in 1977. In recent years, starting under the administration of George W Bush and continuing under Barack Obama, investigations and prosecutions under the act have become the Department of Justice’s number two enforcement priority behind terrorism cases.

The act prohibits American citizens and corporations from making “an offer or payment of anything of value to a foreign official, foreign political party or candidate for political office, for the purpose of influencing any act of that foreign official in violation of the duty of that official, or to secure any improper advantage in order to obtain or retain business.”