The government may have done very little to punish ‘Wall Street’ for their implicitness in the economic crash that we’ll all be slogging through for quite some time, but fear not, mega-producer and Ultimate Frisbee co-inventor Joel Silver is going vigilante. Back in December Silver sued the investment banking powerhouse Goldman Sacs for $30 million that Silver claims was owed him over deals involving Dark Castle Entertainment, the genre production company he started with Robert Zemeckis. Goldman Sachs fired back with a move for dismissal, calling the case “implausible” and “absurd.” But THR is reporting that a federal judge has denied Goldman’s motion to dismiss the case. Go get ’em Joel. And maybe you should take up Ultimate Frisbee again. You’ve been looking a little paunchy these past few decades.
For those interested, the back ground on the case is such:
In 2007, Silver claims that Goldman was keen on expanding their Sauron-like reach into the entertainment business. The investment bank was trying to buy parts of the Toronto-based movie company Alliance. Silver claims that Goldman planned to use Alliance to pact with Silver’s company but Goldman needed a financing partner, so Silver introduced Goldman to Societe Generale de Financement du Quebec Bureau (SGF). Goldman supposedly promised that once SGF helped finance an Alliance deal, Goldman would then finalize a deal with Silver and pay him $35 million. Then, after SGF invested more than $100 million in the Alliance transaction, Goldman told Silver he had to wait until money could be raised to pay him. They also renegotiated Silver’s fee to $30 million.
Based on this promise, Silver claims he entered into several written deals with Alliance connected with Dark Castle. Even if these deals didn’t go through, Silver claims it was agreed upon, in a deal signed by Goldman exec Gerald Cardinale, that he would receive a $2 million finder’s fee that allegedly was never paid out. Silver’s complaint states that “Despite their vast wealth and resources [the Goldman defendants] have repudiated and breached their contractual obligations to pay the Silver Parties at least $30 million, made fraudulent misrepresentations to benefit themselves by over $100 million, and refused to pay substantial amounts due for the valuable services of Silver… Goldman was able to make profits in the billions and to pay its own executives bonuses in the billions, while claiming that it could not arrange for the $30 million owed to the Silver Parties.”
So there you have it. Feels weird rooting for someone when $2 million finder’s fees are involved (not exactly an underdog tale), not to mention Silver could be completely full of shit, but fuck Goldman Sachs. I wish Silver were suing for more money.