Independent New York film producer Lawrence Robbins has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he engaged in #insider trading, using leaked information to make option plays on two impending biotech takeovers.
Robbins and his partner, John Michael Bennett, produced the 2012 bomb "Playback," a horror thriller that drew a talented cast, including vampire hearthrob Christian Slater for filming in western Michigan in 2010.
If the film needed an infusion of money, Robbins and Bennett found a way to get it -- with some stealthy help from their friend Scott Allen, who worked for a global consulting firm that evaluated potential targets for firms exploring takeovers.
The SEC charged that Allen tipped Bennett to the pending takeovers of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sepracor, Inc. and Bennett passed the information along to Robbins, his partner in Bennett-Robbins Productions, LLC. The two producers each invested tens of thousands of dollars in options calls on the two targeted companies, and when Millennium's and Sepracor's acquisitions were announced, the pair racked up $2.6 million in illegal profits and pumped some of the cash into their film company, the SEC said.
The money, however, didn't help "Playback's' fortunes.
The film wound up with a domestic gross of $264 -- yes, that's CQ -- for its single showing in a single theater, apparently to an audience of 33, says Box Office Mojo, a subsidiary of IMDb, Inc.
And Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director for enforcement in the SEC's New York Regional Office, says "their plot ... did not account for the real world consequences of being caught by the SEC."
The SEC said that Robbins has agreed to pay $865,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $150,000 penalty -- terms that take into account Robbins' "current financial condition. The settlement still could get pushback from a federal judge, because it allows Robbins to pay the fine without admitting guilt. But then, Robbins may have provided prosecutors lots of help in nailing Allen and Bennett, each of whom has pled guilty in parallel criminal ations.
- See more at: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2013/09/co-producer-of-movie-bust-to-pay-1-million-for-insider-trading.html#sthash.kUrISzSh.dpuf
Robbins and his partner, John Michael Bennett, produced the 2012 bomb "Playback," a horror thriller that drew a talented cast, including vampire hearthrob Christian Slater for filming in western Michigan in 2010.
If the film needed an infusion of money, Robbins and Bennett found a way to get it -- with some stealthy help from their friend Scott Allen, who worked for a global consulting firm that evaluated potential targets for firms exploring takeovers.
The SEC charged that Allen tipped Bennett to the pending takeovers of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sepracor, Inc. and Bennett passed the information along to Robbins, his partner in Bennett-Robbins Productions, LLC. The two producers each invested tens of thousands of dollars in options calls on the two targeted companies, and when Millennium's and Sepracor's acquisitions were announced, the pair racked up $2.6 million in illegal profits and pumped some of the cash into their film company, the SEC said.
The money, however, didn't help "Playback's' fortunes.
The film wound up with a domestic gross of $264 -- yes, that's CQ -- for its single showing in a single theater, apparently to an audience of 33, says Box Office Mojo, a subsidiary of IMDb, Inc.
And Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director for enforcement in the SEC's New York Regional Office, says "their plot ... did not account for the real world consequences of being caught by the SEC."
The SEC said that Robbins has agreed to pay $865,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $150,000 penalty -- terms that take into account Robbins' "current financial condition. The settlement still could get pushback from a federal judge, because it allows Robbins to pay the fine without admitting guilt. But then, Robbins may have provided prosecutors lots of help in nailing Allen and Bennett, each of whom has pled guilty in parallel criminal ations.
- See more at: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2013/09/co-producer-of-movie-bust-to-pay-1-million-for-insider-trading.html#sthash.kUrISzSh.dpuf
Robbins and his partner, John Michael Bennett, produced the 2012 bomb "Playback," a horror thriller that drew a talented cast, including vampire hearthrob Christian Slater for filming in western Michigan in 2010.
If the film needed an infusion of money, Robbins and Bennett found a way to get it -- with some stealthy help from their friend Scott Allen, who worked for a global consulting firm that evaluated potential targets for firms exploring takeovers.
The SEC charged that Allen tipped Bennett to the pending takeovers of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sepracor, Inc. and Bennett passed the information along to Robbins, his partner in Bennett-Robbins Productions, LLC. The two producers each invested tens of thousands of dollars in options calls on the two targeted companies, and when Millennium's and Sepracor's acquisitions were announced, the pair racked up $2.6 million in illegal profits and pumped some of the cash into their film company, the SEC said.
The money, however, didn't help "Playback's' fortunes.
The film wound up with a domestic gross of $264 -- yes, that's CQ -- for its single showing in a single theater, apparently to an audience of 33, says Box Office Mojo, a subsidiary of IMDb, Inc.
And Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director for enforcement in the SEC's New York Regional Office, says "their plot ... did not account for the real world consequences of being caught by the SEC."
The SEC said that Robbins has agreed to pay $865,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $150,000 penalty -- terms that take into account Robbins' "current financial condition. The settlement still could get pushback from a federal judge, because it allows Robbins to pay the fine without admitting guilt. But then, Robbins may have provided prosecutors lots of help in nailing Allen and Bennett, each of whom has pled guilty in parallel criminal ations.
- See more at: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2013/09/co-producer-of-movie-bust-to-pay-1-million-for-insider-trading.html#sthash.kUrISzSh.dpuf
Independent New York film producer http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370539826717#.UkCyTH8rNnA Lawrence Robbins has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he engaged in #insider trading, using leaked information to make option plays on two impending biotech takeovers.
Robbins and his partner, John Michael Bennett, produced the 2012 bomb "Playback," a horror thriller that drew a talented cast, including vampire heartthrob Christian Slater for filming in western Michigan in 2010.
If the film needed an infusion of money, Robbins and Bennett found a way to get it -- with some stealthy help from their friend Scott Allen, who worked for a global consulting firm that evaluated potential targets for firms exploring takeovers.
The SEC charged that Allen tipped Bennett to the pending takeovers of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sepracor, Inc. and Bennett passed the information along to Robbins, his partner in Bennett-Robbins Productions, LLC. The two producers each invested tens of thousands of dollars in options calls on the two targeted companies, and when Millennium's and Sepracor's acquisitions were announced, the pair racked up $2.6 million in illegal profits and pumped some of the cash into their film company, the SEC said.
The money, however, didn't help "Playback's' fortunes.
The film wound up with a domestic gross of $264 -- yes, that's CQ -- for its single showing in a single theater, apparently to an audience of 33, says Box Office Mojo, a subsidiary of IMDb, Inc.
And Sanjay Wadhwa, senior associate director for enforcement in the SEC's New York Regional Office, says "their plot ... did not account for the real world consequences of being caught by the SEC."
The SEC said that Robbins has agreed to pay $865,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $150,000 penalty -- terms that take into account Robbins' "current financial condition. The settlement still could get pushback from a federal judge, because it allows Robbins to pay the fine without admitting guilt. But then, Robbins may have provided prosecutors lots of help in nailing Allen and Bennett, each of whom has pled guilty in parallel criminal ations.
- See more at: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2013/09/co-producer-of-movie-bust-to-pay-1-million-for-insider-trading.html#sthash.kUrISzSh.dpuf
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