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Former Livent Inc. Execs Drabinksy and Gottlieb Are Headed to Prison
The Ontario Court of Appeal has decided to uphold Garth Drabinsky’s and Myron Gottlieb’s 2009 fraud and forgery convictions, though both their sentences were reduced, the National Post reports. The 58-page decision the court justices released today said they agree that “substantial penitentiary terms were required for both appellants,” but due to an “error in principle,” their sentences were not fitting. Now Drabinsky will serve a prison term of five years instead of seven, and Gottlieb will serve four instead of six years; until this week, neither man has spent time in incarceration. Both men are expected to head to prison immediately. An appeal is likely, but legal experts don’t expect the Supreme Court will review the case. Drabinsky and Gottlieb defrauded investors in their Toronto-based company Livent Inc., which produced big Broadway hits like Phantom of the Opera, of $500 million. The RCMP first charged them with fraud in 2002, after they fled the U.S. to evade criminal charges there.