Posted on 05/04/2005 4:44:08 AM PDT by Mike Bates
Michael Moore had a problem. By the end of April 2004, he'd finished making Fahrenheit 9/11 but had no American distributor. Mel Gibson's Icon Productions rejected the project back in April 2003. (Moore claims he had a signed contract before Gibson acquiesced to White House pressure. Icon executives deny any such contract existed.) Moore then went to Harvey Weinstein at Miramax. Weinstein agreed to back the movie and signed a contract with Moore to acquire the rights. But in order to distribute the movie, Weinstein still needed the approval of his superiors at Disney. Although he does not discuss this publicly, Weinstein's contract explicitly prohibits Miramax, a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney, from distributing any film that's vetoed by the Disney CEO. When then-CEO Michael Eisner exercised his veto in May 2003, Miramax, though it still held the rights to the film, could not distribute Fahrenheit 9/11.
By the time Eisner told Weinstein of his decision, the Miramax head had already given Moore $6 million from Miramax's loan account. Weinstein agreed that this advance was to be "bridge financing" that he would recover when he sold off the film's distribution rights. To make sure there was no misunderstanding, Disney's Senior Executive Vice President Peter Murphy, who was also at the meeting, wrote Weinstein a letter on May 12, 2003, affirming that this money was "bridge financing" and that Weinstein had agreed to dispose of Miramax's interest in the film.
For Moore, this $6 million in "bridge financing" was more than enough to make Fahrenheit 9/11.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...
Loan account?
Now that's a very provocative statement.........
We need to determine whether Moore, Miramax and Disney--under Eisner-- cooked the books, and whether they fraudulently filed false documents and whether they misled state and federal agencies.
We need to know whether Moore, Miramax and Disney---under Eisner---made accurate statements about income and outgo.
The IRS should determine whether Moore, Miramax and Disney---under Eisner---misused corporate reserve accounts, concealing losses, inflating asset values and improperly accounting for transactions, as well as deferring profits into reserve accounts, improperly shifting capital funding to other projects to hide illegal payments, and so on.
Legal fees, a line item in most accounting reports, are well-used money laundering schemes that evade US taxes and use fraudulent accounting techniques to violate US banking and SEC laws.
Any of these practices could jeopardize the financial interests of stockholders and would compel the SEC to step in.
We need to know whether Moore, Miramax and Disney---under Eisner---engaged in Enron-style accounting and spending practices.
Anyone with concerns about these issues should contact the SEC here: enforcement@SEC.gov.
.
DISNEY President EISNER =
Friend of the CLINTONS
DISNEY Chairman MITCHELL =
Friend of the CLINTONS
.
Too make this relevant. Owners of Disney stock at the time of this loan should contact the SEC. You know my avoidance of investing in companies like Disney. This is another example of why I don't invest in companies controlled by liberals.
Thanks for the info, Liz.
Thanks for the ping liz. I don't remember which ping list this is, but i like the topic.
Will pass the word. Those individuals---owners of Disney stock at the time of the loan to Moore---- should contact enforcement@SEC.gov.
FReepers who are on-target----thanks for the affirmation, and for contributing to the thread.
read later
Oh sure, blame the White House for Mel Gibson having a real backbone. Hehehehe...it's Bush's fault!!!
On to the "bridge financing". It looks to me like Miramax financed F-911, then tried to hide their involvement. Eisner is up to his neck in this. 6,000,000 smackeroos is a lot of money to give someone after you reject their project.
We need to determine whether Moore, Miramax and Disney--under Eisner-- cooked the books, and whether they fraudulently filed false documents and whether they misled state and federal agencies.
They probably do it all the time, to protect their "squeaky clean image". Of course funneling money into their own off-shore accounts is also an attractive option. Thanks for pinging me, I'd like to keep my eye on this :)
Thanks for your input.
There's so many ways these lowlifes could have phonied up the $6M and siphoned it off, into campaign accounts, or personal accounts, out of sight of the FEC, SEC, IRS, and federal banking laws.
If only we had a copy of the financial report from that time; would be a cinch to figure out how they finessed the $6M.
That's it! That's what was in the back of my mind. Are any of these people involved in the Hillary fundraiser from 2000? I hope that Ron Paul and whatshisname Rosen, don't end up taking a Ft. Marcy Park dirt nap.
You'd have to be able to obtain a financial report that hasn't been sanitized. If this was a solid Republican outfit, then the government would be all over this like white on rice. It would be great if someone could get their hands on the real deal :)
Is this bunch involved in Hillary's campaign financing? (groan) Does day follow night?
They probably didn't phony up the financial reports---thinking they were so smart---that no one could figure out the scheme.
So did Enron (smirk).
Thanks for the ping!
I believe that is called "hubris". Unfortunately, even if someone can dig up the records, MSM will bury it :(
Mikey is working on a sequel, Fahrenheit 9/11 ½. It promises to be over 100% fact free.
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