Seal on Samaha’s Records Is Sought

Movie producer Elie Samaha’s lawyers are seeking a court order to seal financial and other records emerging in his escalating dispute with a German financier of his films.

In a hearing scheduled Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, Samaha’s attorneys are asking for a protective order to treat as confidential numerous documents, testimony and information related to films produced by Samaha’s Franchise Pictures.

The request stems from a lawsuit Germany’s Intertainment filed against Samaha in which it alleges he defrauded the company by secretly inflating budgets so Intertainment would pay a higher percentage of Samaha’s film costs than it was obligated to cover.

Samaha’s lawyers have denied Intertainment’s allegations and have filed their own lawsuit against the German company in Los Angeles Superior Court. It alleges that Intertainment has reneged on deals and is using Franchise as a scapegoat to shore up its sagging stock price.

The move to seal the records comes in the wake of a court filing earlier this week in which Intertainment alleged Imperial Bank worked in cahoots with Samaha, which Samaha’s lawyers deny.

The scores of documents involved in the case include contracts with banks and with movie stars, as well as a three-page legal release allegedly signed by Franchise President Andrew Stevens that Intertainment argues in court records shows Stevens was willing to cooperate in a case against Imperial.

That release, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, states that information will be provided--including bank records, interoffice memos and other documents--on ways budgets were allegedly inflated. Samaha lawyer Stanton L. Stein said he does not know of any such document signed by Stevens and that Stevens denies ever signing one.

Samaha has produced a number of lower-budget films with major stars, including “Get Carter” with Sylvester Stallone, “Battlefield Earth” with John Travolta and “3000 Miles to Memphis,” a film starring Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell that opens today. In court papers, Samaha’s lawyers argue that Samaha’s confidential methods of making movies economically outside the studio system should not be made public because his “business formula is a highly valued and guarded asset.”

But Intertainment’s lawyers contend Samaha lawyers are requesting an order that is too broad and vague and that they want to seal information he has discussed openly in the press, including how he schmoozes stars, coaxes them to take lower fees so they can do pet projects and how he films in Canada, where costs are lower.

But Stein said that even though Samaha has talked about his methods, numerous details involving the exact mechanics of how he puts together a deal should be treated as confidential.