Parker sentence upheld; TV show on case to air
Malcolm "Mac" Parker was correctly sentenced to 55 months in prison for his role in a $28 million movie fraud scheme, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City ruled Monday.
"We conclude that the district court's sentence was substantively reasonable," a three-judge panel for the appellate court said in a five-page opinion.
Parker had appealed Judge Christina Reiss' decision last year to sentence him to 55 months, rather than the 36-month term the government had proposed.
The Parker story, the subject of a four-day investigative series published by the Burlington Free Press in March, 2013, will be featured on a July 16 episode of "American Greed," a program aired nationally on CNBC.
Reiss, at Parker's sentencing hearing, said she was adding 19 months to the government's recommendation because she was not convinced Parker had accepted responsibility for his actions or was that helpful in testifying against his co-conspirator, Louis Soteriou, at Soteriou's sentencing hearing.
Soteriou, the film's silent partner and Parker's one-time spiritual guru, was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Parker, a well-known Vermont storyteller, persuaded about 700 people — mostly Vermonters — to invest in the film by offering double-digit interest payments on their money, according to court records.
A large number of people did get their money back, plus interest, but close to 400 of the investors ended up being owed about $7.5 million, court records show.
The movie, named "Birth of Innocence," cost $1 million to make but remains unfinished 15 years after work on it began. Two investor groups, one sympathetic to Parker and one led by his ex-film editor Horace Williams, are fighting in federal bankruptcy court over who should get control of the film.
The American Greed episode about the Parker case is titled "Lights! Camera! Fraud!" and will feature interviews with fraud victims and and supporters of Parker, as well as footage of Parker and other figures in the case.
"We are always looking for stories involving outrageous tales of greed, charismatic characters and people who placed their trust in the wrong person," the CNBC Executive Producer Chuck Schaeffer said in an interview Monday. "Mac's story really hit the nail on the head."
The show, narrated by veteran actor Stacy Keach, will air at 10 p.m. on July 16 and again at 1 a.m. on July 17 for the West Coast audience and "night owls" in the east, Schaeffer said.
Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or shemingway@freepressmedia.com. Follow Sam on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SamuelHemingway.