Two U.S. producers' film fest at heart of their bribery trial

LOS ANGELES - Before film producers Gerald and Patricia Green took over a movie festival in Bangkok, the weeklong event struggled for Hollywood's attention.

Over the next four years, the Southern California couple transformed the festival into a rising star on the international circuit for screening new films, attracting star actors and directors, including Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irons, and director Oliver Stone, to Thailand.

The success earned the couple a fortune. It also drew scrutiny from federal prosecutors, who have charged them with bribing Thai officials to run the festival and land lucrative contracts.

The novel trial, scheduled to start tomorrow in U.S. District Court, is the first in which entertainment-industry figures are charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal statute prohibiting bribes to foreign officials for business purposes.

Prosecutors contend the Greens paid Juthamas Siriwan, former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, $1.8 million to help secure the Bangkok International Film Festival and tourism deals, beginning in 2002, that netted the Greens $14 million over a four-year period.

The payments, often disguised as sales commissions, were transferred into accounts of Juthamas' daughter and a friend or paid in cash to Juthamas directly, according to court documents. Thai authorities said they are investigating Juthamas.

The Greens' lawyers said they never paid to get the contracts.

Gerald Green, 77, who produced Stone's Salvador and the Christian Bale-led Rescue Dawn, faces 20 counts. Patricia Green, 54, who produced Diamonds, starring Kirk Douglas, Dan Aykroyd, and Lauren Bacall, faces 21 counts.

If convicted, they each could receive up to life in prison. They have both pleaded not guilty and are free on bond.

The outcome of the trial, coupled with recent comments by federal officials, could affect how Hollywood studios conduct business in foreign countries.

Earlier this month, Robert Khuzami, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, said the agency will create a unit to focus on possible foreign-corruption violations.

"I think a message is being sent loud and clear that the government is going after violators no matter what industry they are in," said Franceska Schroeder, an attorney in Washington who specializes in trade compliance law.

The number of foreign corrupt-practices cases the U.S. government has prosecuted has risen in recent years. In 2003, there were three; last year there were 17, according to the Justice Department. So far this year there have been nine.