Summerside Accepts Judgment

Officials in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, have accepted a stipulated judgment in a lawsuit involving $1.3 million in funds for a Michael Jackson tribute concert that never was.

The judgment means the city will stop attempting to recover the funds from promoter Katrina Berg Sussmeier of Starlink Productions after Sussmeier signed a stipulated judgment with the court April 9, the Guardian reported. The judgment neither claims nor denies guilt and would not require her repay any of the money.

In return, Sussmeier will apparently help try to locate the people she claims disappeared with the city’s money. 

Summerside filed suit in early 2011, two years after inking a deal for the tribute show with Sussmeier, one-time MJ manager Frank DiLeo’s DLM Management and DiLeo Entertainment companies and two agents for those companies – Mark Lamicka and Quincy Krashna. When the concert never took place, the city sued, alleging fraud.

Sussmeier has claimed in the time since that Lamicka and Krashna have the city’s money and maintained she did not commit fraud, telling the local Journal Pioneer, “I am not the one who profited. I’m the only one fighting this. I’m not the one who ended up with the money and there’s clear evidence that shows that.”

Lamicka and Krashna have failed to appear in court on the fraud charges and judgments have been laid against them, the paper said.

“They (evidence of financial wire transfers) show that not only did I send most of Summerside’s money to these people at Frank DiLeo’s office, but it shows I sent a lot of money to a Canadian production company,” she continued. “Why would I do that if there wasn’t going to be a show? I have all of these wire transfers that are evidence in this case.”

Summerside Deputy Mayor Bruce MacDougall said the city is satisfied with the stipulated judgment against Sussmeier and can not continue to chase the funds in court.

“We are at a point where we have to move on,” he told the Guardian. “The city’s got a lot more things to do than this. It’s very unfortunate. We’ve got to remember that we’re the victims here and not the villains and I think it’s time we moved on.”