The A-List film producer who spent six months in prison for violating the FCPA by paying bribes in Thailand has died.
Gerald Green passed away in Los Angeles on July 24 from emphysema, the Hollywood Reporter said this week. He was 83.
In 2009, an LA jury found Green and his wife Patricia guilty of paying $1.8 million in bribes to Juthamas Siriwan, then-governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. In exchange, she awarded them contracts worth $13.5 million to produce the Bangkok film festival.
The Greens are the only husband and wife ever convicted of FCPA offenses in a jury trial. They were also the first individuals from the entertainment industry to face FCPA charges.
The DOJ pushed for prison sentences of at least ten years for each of them, for FCPA offenses and money laundering.
But Judge George Wu sentenced each of them to six-months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release.
At his sentencing hearing, Green presented medical evidence about his emphysema and other health problems.
He was released from federal custody on May 26, 2011. His wife Patricia, now 60, was freed a day later.
He served most of his time at Terminal Island, California. His wife was 85 miles away, in Victorville prison in Adelanto.
After their convictions, the government seized most of their assets, including their house, car, bank accounts, and their company and its pension plan. The DOJ had included a $2 million forfeiture count in the indictment against them.
Green, originally from South Africa, produced Salvador, an award-winning 1986 war drama co-written and directed by Oliver Stone. Rescue Dawn (2006), starring Christian Bale, was Green’s most recent production credit.
In a court filing after their sentencing and the government’s seizure of their property, the Greens’ court-appointed lawyers said the couple was indigent.
Gerald Green came to the U.S. in 1970. “His first two credits as a producer were on adventure films starring Peter O’Toole: Man Friday (1975) and The Far Side of Paradise (1976),” the Hollywood Reporter said.
He and his wife brought the Bangkok film festival to prominence as its operators from 2004 to 2006.
Juthamas Siriwan, the former Thai tourism governor, and her daughter were indicted in the U.S. in 2010 for money laundering and related offenses.
They have never appeared in court in the United States.
Siriwan has argued she shouldn’t be prosecuted in the U.S. because Thailand is also planning to charge her with similar crimes.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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