Epics Sarlui, Diamant sue former attorney

Producers Eduard Sarlui and Moshe Diamant have sued their former lawyer for allegedly turning over control of Epic Pictures to Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland and then falsely claiming Sarlui and Diamant never owned Epic.

Among other things, Sarlui and Diamant also claim in a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that their longtime attorney, Eugene L. Wolver Jr., in 1988 “embarked upon a secret scheme to cold-bloodedly cheat his clients out of tens of millions of dollars.”

The alleged scheme included charging excessive fees while representing Epic and secretly representing only the bank’s interests while claiming to work for both the producers and the bank in setting up the deal in which Sarlui and Diamant took over Epic.

The Epic agreement, which created three corporate entities that were in turn owned by a Panamanian corporation called Route of the Stars, was designed in 1988 to take over the assets of Empire Entertainment Inc. Empire then was in default on $ 26 million in loans from Credit Lyonnais and the new company was supposed to repay that debt as it produced new films.

Popular on Variety

Sarlui and Diamant, however, claim that Wolver, representing both them and the bank, drafted an intentionally vague three-page document creating the Epic arrangement that did not protect the plaintiffs’ rights.

After Sarlui and Diamant got into a series of disputes with the bank over financing, they reached a settlement in late 1991 that called for the bank to pay them $ 10 million in exchange for ownership of Epic. The next July, however, Wolver allegedly turned over “bearer certificates” of ownership of Route of the Stars to the bank without permission, the suit said. The bank then allegedly refused to pay Sarlui and Diamant anything.

The suit also alleges Wolver filed a declaration in federal court in L.A. saying he did not represent Sarlui and Diamant and that he never had an ownership interest in Epic.

The suit seeks at least $ 10 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.

Must Read

Film
COVER | Sebastian Stan Tells All: Becoming Donald Trump and Starring in 2024’s Most Controversial Movie
By Andrew Wallenstein 2 weeks

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9mhnp%2Fjpugs2eemsS0e8SpoJxlo2LAor7LrqBmnJmWuqK602aqrp1dm7yzucSrZJqspKS%2Fr7HYZmhpbmlsfnA%3D

Reinaldo Massengill

Update: 2024-08-24

ZestSync