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Giancarlo Parretti

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Giancarlo Parretti
Born (1941-10-23) 23 October 1941 (age 83)
Orvieto, Italy
NationalityItalian
Occupation(s)Former Owner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[1] and Founder of MGM-Pathé Communications
Known forFraud

Giancarlo Parretti (born 23 October 1941) is an Italian financier.[2][3]

Early life and business interests

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Parretti was born in Orvieto, north of Rome, Italy. He worked as a waiter in London before moving to Sicily. There, he said, he used government aid to buy and sell at least four hotels. In 1983, he bought three Italian insurance companies and two years later sold them to a Geneva-based merchant bank, Sasea Holdings.[4]

Parretti once was an owner and chairman of the 300-hotel Melia Hotel chain, and Renta Immobiliaria S.A, a Spanish real estate company. He was once a partner of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

Later career

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From 1979 to 1981, Parretti was chairman of Siracusa Calcio, and partners with Gianni De Michelis and Cesare De Michelis [it] in the daily newspaper "Il Diario", that was published between 1979 and 1981.[5][6][7]

In 1986, Parretti gained control of Le Matin de Paris, a Socialist newspaper in Paris, which went bankrupt a year later.[8]

In 1989, he took over Cannon Film Group Inc. from Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Almost immediately, he made plans to take over the historic French studio Pathé, and changed Cannon's name to Pathé Communications. However, the French government blocked his bid due to concerns about his background.[9]

"In 1990, the Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti was trying to line up the Liberian government as an investor in a company he was using to buy MGM/UA Communications. But the relationship ended when Mr. Parretti’s ally, the Liberian president Samuel K. Doe, was tortured and killed by opponents."[10]

Undaunted, Parretti bought Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1990 for $1.2 billion,[11] using money borrowed from a Dutch subsidiary of Crédit Lyonnais and contingent on future profits financing the purchase from mogul Kirk Kerkorian.

Parretti persuaded Time Warner to guarantee a US$650 million loan to help his Pathé Communications to carry out the deal, with Time Warner in return gaining access to 3,000 films in the Pathe and MGM/UA libraries to distribute worldwide through theaters, TV and video.[12]

Parretti then merged the former Cannon with the MGM purchase to create the short-lived MGM-Pathé Communications.

Further information: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer § MGM-Pathé Communications

Under Parretti's control, MGM released almost no films (one victim being the James Bond franchise, the planned production of the seventeenth Bond film, Property of a Lady[13][14][15]), while Parretti enjoyed a Hollywood mogul lifestyle. He fired most of the accounting staff and appointed his 21-year-old daughter to a senior financial post. He used company money for presents to several girlfriends, including a former runner-up for Miss Universe. In 1991, his ownership dissolved in a flurry of lawsuits and a default to Crédit Lyonnais, and Parretti faced securities fraud charges in the United States and Europe.[16][17][18][19] In March 1999, he was found guilty of misuse of corporate funds and fraud and he was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison and fined 1 million Ff by a Paris court.[20]

"an ex-waiter whose principal expertise was Ponzi schemes, not film"...much of the bank's money went to what were euphemistically called 'development deals' involving young women who were neither filmmakers nor developers"[21] – Peter Bart

Parretti is the subject of the 2024 documentary The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Steal Hollywood, directed by John Dower.[22][23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Former MGM Owner Fights to Reclaim It". The Los Angeles Times. 1996-08-30. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  2. ^ Citron, Alan; Cieply, Michael (1990-05-06). "Despite Giancarlo Parretti's lavish lifestyle and his bid for MGM/UA, the Italian financier remains a little-known outsider". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  3. ^ Richter, Paul (1990-03-08). "The Mogul Behind Pathe's Bid". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  4. ^ Cohen, Roger (March 8, 1990). "Ambitious Financier Behind Pathe - NYTimes.com". Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  5. ^ Lippman, John (4 April 1990). "Pathe's Chief Gets Prison Sentence in Italian Court". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  6. ^ "parretti-arrested-on-taxes". nytimes.com. 1991-12-28. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  7. ^ CHEVILLEY, Philippe (1991-12-30). "Giancarlo Parretti incarcéré pour fraude fiscale". Les Echos (France). Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  8. ^ McClintick, David; FAIRCLOTH, ANNE (July 8, 1996). "The Predator: How an Italian thug looted MGM, brought Credit Lyonnais to its knees, and made the Pope cry". Fortune.
  9. ^ Citron, Alan; Cieply, Michael (1991-04-24). "Hollywood: Giancarlo Parretti's scramble to buy the studio last October included a possible CIA operative and several members of the secretive Knights of Malta". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  10. ^ Cieply, Michael (March 8, 2011). "Qaddafi Money Casts a Shadow in Hollywood". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  11. ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (March 8, 1990). "Pathe in $1.2 Billion Deal to Buy MGM/UA". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  12. ^ Greenwald, John (April 23, 1990). "What Makes Giancarlo Run?". TIME. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007.
  13. ^ "007 Producer Fires Legal Salvo At MGM". Variety. February 18, 1991. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  14. ^ "A summary of Southern California-related business litigation developments during the past week. - latimes". Los Angeles Times. October 12, 2016. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  15. ^ "Timothy Dalton talks 'Chuck,' 'The Tourist,' and, of course, Bond | PopWatch | EW.com". August 13, 2014. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  16. ^ Bates, James (1992-12-21). "SEC Steps Up Investigation of MGM Deal : Entertainment: Information is sought on temporary financing used by Giancarlo Parretti in his purchase of the studio". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  17. ^ Citron, Alan (1991-07-09). "Fight Over MGM-Pathe Is Pushed Up a Notch". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  18. ^ Cieply, Michael; Citron, Alan (1991-04-10). "MGM Deal Made Without Title to Stock, Suit Says". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  19. ^ Cieply, Michael; Citron, Alan (1991-04-05). "Insurer Claims to Own 35% of MGM". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  20. ^ AFP-Extel News Limited. March 31, 1991
  21. ^ Bart, Peter (10 April 2013). "MGM: Sometimes a Roaring Silence Is Best". Variety. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  22. ^ Rees, Jasper (October 18, 2024). "The Man Who Definitely Didn't Steal Hollywood, review: a delightful yarn, plump with absurdity" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  23. ^ "BBC Two - The Man Who Definitely Didn't Steal Hollywood". BBC.
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