Producer Jason Cloth Ordered to Pay $19.6 Million After Skipping Fraud Trial
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Jason Cloth, a Canadian financier with credits on dozens of films including “Babylon” and “Joker,” was hit with a $19.6 million verdict last week after failing to appear at a fraud trial in West Palm Beach, Fla.
A seven-member jury found that Cloth defrauded an investor on “The Pathway,” a TNT docuseries about the NBA draft, out of $6.6 million.
The jury also awarded $13 million in punitive damages. Cloth is also facing a class action suit in Chicago, where is accused of defrauding investors on “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “Monkey Man” and other films out of more than $80 million. “He’s made a career of telling people whatever they want to hear in order to get what he wants,” said attorney David Jonelis, who represented the plaintiff in the Florida case.
At the two-day trial, Jonelis presented evidence that Cloth had solicited the investment on “The Pathway” by claiming that it had been greenlit for five seasons.
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