Partial Parole For Livent Founder

A Canadian theater mogul convicted of fraud has been released to a Toronto halfway house to serve the remainder of a five-year sentence.

Livent co-founder Garth Drabinsky was convicted alongside his former partner Myron Gottlieb in 2009 on two counts of fraud and one count of forgery after a judge found the men had manipulated the company’s statements for many years to attract investors.

 
During a recent hearing, Drabinsky applied for full release, but a parole board decided such a decision would be premature. 
 
He denied guilt during the hearing, telling the board he’d never intentionally committed fraud but was negligent and didn’t know that practices used by the company’s accountants had “crossed into criminality.”
 
“I should never have been CEO,” he said. “That was a mistake.”
 
Livent went bankrupt in 1998 after producing shows including “Ragtime” and “Show Boat.” It was once the largest live theatre company in North America, with theaters in New York, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver.
 
Drabinsky and Gottlieb were indicted in the U.S. following the bankruptcy on charges they’d misappropriated millions from investors, but the men were never extradited after being found guilty and serving time for the same charges in Canada.