Livent founders lose judgment

Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, founders of Livent Inc., the producer of Broadway hits including “Phantom of the Opera,” must pay $23.3 million to noteholders who lost their investments when the company went bankrupt, a New York judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled in favor of the noteholders after Gottlieb and Drabinsky refused to cooperate or submit a defense during more than six years of litigation. The ruling was disclosed Tuesday.

Drabinsky, 54, and Gottlieb, 61, who are in Canada, have refused to come to the U.S. to face criminal and civil fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. government as a result of the collapse of the company. The noteholders may have to ask a Canadian court to enforce Marrero’s judgment.