Investors Demand $1.5M from Rob Schneider

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Former "Saturday Night Live" star Rob Schneider rolled two movie investors for $1.5 million, the investors claim in Superior Court.

Enticed by the promise of 15 percent annual returns plus return of their principal, plaintiffs George and Nancy Gamble say they trusted that the comedian and his brother John Schneider would use the money to pay for post-production work on a movie called "The Chosen One."

"Instead, the Schneiders used plaintiffs' investment for unrelated, improper and/or personal purposes," the Gambles say in their complaint.

A cast member of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in the early 1990s, Rob Schneider went on to star in movies, including "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo."

The Schneider brothers "led plaintiffs to believe that their investment was safe and would be profitable," the Gambles say, but "did not describe to plaintiffs any risks of this investment - either orally or in any prospectus, offering memoranda, or other writing."

The Gambles say a limited liability company was formed to handle the deal, and their $1.5 million was to be repaid by income from any source connected to the movie.

But the Gambles claim, "The representations that the Schneiders made to plaintiffs were intentionally and knowingly false and designed to steal plaintiffs' money. Indeed, the Schneiders did not use any portion of the plaintiffs' $1.5 million investment to finance post-production work of "The Chosen One" - which to this day remains uncompleted."

The Gambles claim that in 2010 they made a deal with the Schneiders to get their money back rather than suing them then.

But "despite their continuing promises to pay back plaintiffs their investment, the Schneiders have not complied with the written guaranty - and plaintiffs have yet to receive back even one dollar of their investment," the complaint states.

Named as defendants are Rob and John Schneider, Chosen One Productions RS LLC, Chosen One TWF LLC, and The Chosen One RS LLC.

The Gambles are represented by Brian Hafter, with LeClairRyan.

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