ENCINO : Movie Distributor Gets Prison Term

An Encino movie distributor who embezzled more than half a million dollars from a Canadian film company was sentenced Tuesday to more than six years in prison.

Howard Goldfarb, 50, was tried in Los Angeles Superior Court and was sentenced to six years and four months imprisonment, the maximum penalty for grand theft and tax evasion, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Rosenthal said. He was also fined $40,000, and must pay $377,500 in restitution to Pryceless Productions Ltd. of Toronto and $65,000 to the Franchise Tax Board.

Goldfarb pleaded guilty in June to the charges, which he faced in connection with a 1988 international deal to distribute the film “Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter” for Pryceless, Rosenthal said.

Doing business as Goldfarb Distributors Inc., Trigate Associates Inc. and Southern Cross Films International Ltd., Goldfarb sold the rights to the film to MCA--the parent company of Universal Pictures--for $550,000, Rosenthal said.

Goldfarb then pocketed the money instead of returning it to Pryceless, Rosenthal said, and neglected to pay personal and corporate income taxes on the $550,000 as well.