‘Sliver’ Producer Accused in $6.4-Million Fraud Suit

Robert Evans, producer of the recently released movie “Sliver,” has been accused in a lawsuit of participating in a scheme to defraud investors in a former production company of $6.4 million.

The class-action suit, filed by an investor group April 30 in a Los Angeles Superior Court, ties Evans to an alleged, broad-based scheme involving more than a dozen companies and as many as 8,000 private investors.

The suit names David C. Knight and David H. Bryant as the principals behind the operation, in which investors were allegedly “induced” to purchase unregistered securities in companies such as Evans’ Axiom Entertainment Inc. between 1983 and 1993.

The suit says Evans received $1.2 million from Axiom’s coffers “in exchange for a percentage of rights in motion picture and television productions” that were never made or made without distributions being advanced to Axiom.

Also named in the case is producer William MacDonald, an Evans associate who is engaged to “Sliver” actress Sharon Stone. The suit alleges that MacDonald “dissipated over $5 million raised from Axiom investors” in less than six months.

With the exception of Axiom, the companies named in the case are involved in the oil and gas business.

An Evans spokesman on Wednesday said the producer had no comment because he had not seen the suit and had not been served. MacDonald could not be reached for comment.