Talent Agency Owners Face Fraud Counts

For Jeff and Donna Goldstein, the unsolicited telephone call played perfectly into a weakness shared by so many parents: vanity over their children.

On the line was a Beverly Hills talent agency inviting the Goldsteins’ 10-year-old twins to an audition. What eventually resulted, the Woodland Hills couple says, was a scheme to get them to pay $1,750 for acting lessons for a daughter they were led to believe could one day be a star.

“Here you have a child who is so excited at the things she’s being told,” Donna Goldstein said. “There’s a great draw here. . . . People just fall right into it. And we thought something should be done.”

On Monday, the Goldsteins and more than 30 other angry families got their wish when the Los Angeles city attorney’s office filed misdemeanor charges against the owners of West Coast Talent Ltd., accusing them of 17 counts of illegal solicitation for child acting classes and other services.

The charges against Alexander Zafrin, 37, and David Leroy Harris, 48, both of Beverly Hills, involve their dealings with half a dozen families. They are based on what prosecutors described as false and misleading statements and violations of state consumer and job-placement laws.

The charges resulted from an investigation by the county Department of Consumer Affairs. That probe was triggered by 32 consumer complaints made to county officials and the Better Business Bureau about the Olympic Boulevard talent agency.

Investigators allege that the agency recruited clients by making unsolicited calls to invite parents to bring their children for an entertainment-related audition and screening. Many parents were led to believe there was no fee involved, while others were told that the audition was for an actual commercial or that directors or producers would be present.

After the auditions, agency officials called parents, telling them their children were among a small group being invited back for further screening--at which many parents were pressured to pay substantial fees for photographs and acting lessons, investigators said.

Zafrin and Harris refused to comment Thursday. Dana Cole, an attorney who represents the talent agency, said that although there may have been some “technical problems,” the charges ignore “literally hundreds of customers and clients who have been satisfied with services rendered.”

The agency owners have been charged with six counts each of failing to inform potential clients of their right to cancel a deal and obtain a full refund within three days of signing a contract, as required by law.

Zafrin and Harris will be arraigned Aug. 12.

“Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation,” said Deputy City Atty. Mark Lambert. “The importance of this case is to educate the public to that fact.”

Jeff and Donna Goldstein say they know that all too well. After that first call last July, their daughter Alyssa--who had some minor acting experience--was told that she had potential, but that she needed an acting coach, they said.

“I told them, ‘I don’t know anything about drama teachers,’ ” Donna Goldstein said. “ ‘Do you have one in mind?’ ” She said the agency told her it had its own teachers.

Goldstein said she was first told the classes would cost $1,750, but subsequently was informed that her daughter needed twice as many classes, at a cost of more than $3,300.

“I told them I couldn’t afford that much money and that in any event I would have to talk to my husband before committing. And the woman at the agency said, ‘How much can you commit to giving us without talking to your husband?’ ”

Goldstein said she used her credit card to sign up for $1,750 worth of lessons.

That night, her husband, an entertainment industry production designer, decided to ask for the money back. The company denied their request, the parents said.

So the Goldsteins decided to fight. They called their credit card company to dispute the charges, did research on the Internet and called county officials.

What lesson did she learn from her experience?

“I don’t answer the telephone anymore,” Donna Goldstein said.