NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A film producer awaiting sentencing in a bribery case is accused of hiding his assets to avoid paying about $1.3 million in restitution to the state of Louisiana.
Federal prosecutors say Malcolm Petal failed to disclose that he withdrew $70,000 from a mutual-fund account and $15,000 from a bank account after he agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to bribe the state’s former film commissioner for tax breaks.
Prosecutors are asking a judge to restrain Petal from hiding or selling his assets before his April 9 sentencing hearing. A federal judge is scheduled to hear that request on Friday.
Petal was chief executive of the Louisiana Institute of Film Technology when he allegedly used a lawyer as the middleman for bribe money paid to former film commissioner Mark Smith.
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