LOS ANGELES (CN) - In a lawsuit citing clandestine telephone conversations, a supposed FBI asset and personal betrayal, movie producer David Bergstein claims he was extorted for millions of dollars by a former friend and business partner.
David Bergstein and Pineboard Holdings sued Bergstein's former business partner Parmjit Singh Parmar, Aramid Capital Partners and its chairman David Molner, Aramid Entertainment Fund, and Screen Capital International, in Superior Court.
Cayman Islands-based Aramid Entertainment Fund offers loans to film and television producers and distributors "secured against a variety of assets," according to its website, checked this morning.
Aramid is a frequent flyer in the courts - the Courthouse News Service database has nearly 30 entries with Aramid as a defendant, including nine claims for breach of contract and/or fiduciary duty, one claim of usury, and several involving bankruptcy.
Bergstein has filed at least 23 lawsuits related to his entertainment industry dealings, according to the CNS database. He has been locked in litigation with Molner and Aramid for more than three years, according to entertainment industry reports.
In his latest lawsuit, Bergstein claims Molner and Aramid siphoned more than $60 million from Aramid, then made him a "boogeyman" and "patsy" when burned investors came calling.
"Bergstein is a successful entrepreneur with business interests in a variety of industries, including entertainment," the complaint states. "Bergstein had conducted business with AEF [Aramid Entertainment Fund] and Molner for several years at the point Molner put him in his sights. Molner's plan was simple: blame Bergstein for what Molner had done then bury Bergstein to make it all disappear."
In his complaint, Bergstein claims that his former business partner Parmjit 'Paul' Parmar secretly recorded hours of telephone conversations to help Molner litigate lawsuits tied to the producer's 2010 bankruptcy.
Bergstein claims that after Molner urged the FBI to probe his financial dealings, Parmar claimed he was a "trusted" counterterrorism asset who had worked with the feds in India and Pakistan.
The late director Sidney Lumet is also name-checked. Bergstein claims that Molner offered Parmar a part in the next Sidney Lumet movie if he would aid the "nefarious conspiracy."
Bergstein claims Parmar and Molner extorted him and Pineboard for more than $7 million.
Parmar was once a health care, aviation, real estate and entertainment magnate with a $200 million fortune, until several of his investments were wiped out and creditors took him to court, Bergstein says in the complaint.
It all used to be so different, Bergstein says.
As millions suffered from the Great Recession, Parmar portrayed himself "as the poster-child for how the Great Recession was not having any effect on the 'Super Rich,'" Bergstein claims.
"In April 2008, Parmar was quoted as explaining how the downturn was not affecting his spending, pointing to the $110,000 BMW he recently purchased for his girlfriend to go with the even more expensive Bentley he acquired for himself. Featured on ABC's Nightline profiling 'recession-proof living,' Parmar was quoted as asking, 'What recession?' while being interviewed on his private jet," according to the complaint.
It adds: "Parmar's fairy tale, however, eventually came crumbling down. The cars and the jets were repossessed and his palace wound up in foreclosure. Stripped of his millions, Parmar became a desperate man. Desperate times call for desperate measures."