"Wolf of Wall Street" producers sued
11 Apr - The founders of Red Granite Pictures, Joey McFarland and stepson of current Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Riza Aziz, who put up US$100 million to make Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" are being sued by "Dumb And Dumber" producers Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler for racketeering.
The Hollywood Reporter claims that after Red Granite took the sequel, "Dumb And Dumber Too" in as their own production, Krevoy and Stabler were excluded from the sequel and therefore are suing Aziz and McFarland for it, as well as for "The Wolf of Wall Street" being financed with embezzled money.
"Red Granite is funded with monies that include proceeds from offenses against a foreign nation that involve bribery of public officials, or misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement of public funds by a public official," stated an official complaint.
Aziz and McFarland have been accused by Krevoy and Stabler of "engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity, in that they have engaged in multiple financial transactions within the United States - including financing of "The Wolf of Wall Street" and then separately financing "Dumb and Dumber To"... with knowledge that the transactions were designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the proceeds of the illegal activity."
A representative for Red Granite, however, fires back with a statement for The Hollywood Reporter, "These false, malicious and baseless allegations are demonstrably untrue, and Red Granite looks forward to the prompt dismissal of these claims." The statement continues with saying that neither Krevoy nor Stabler had given any facts to back up their allegations.
This wasn't Red Granite's only scandal, as during this year's Academy Awards, Riza Aziz wasn't up for the producer's award despite his company's full financing for Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street".
No full explanation was given for the decision, except for a few reports questioning Aziz's source of personal wealth.
The allegations, however, resulted in a lawsuit threat by Red Granite's lawyers for defamation.
