Jill Paice - Broadway Production Team File $100m Lawsuit Over 'Rebecca' Scam

Broadway Production Team File $100m Lawsuit Over 'Rebecca' Scam

A stockbroker is at the wrong end of a $100m lawsuit filed by a Broadway production team, reports Reuters. He is accused of jeopardizing the musical production of "Rebecca", which was due to star Jill Paice.

Mark Hotton, 46, following some financial difficulties surrounding the production, was put in touch the show's producers, Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza. He then came up with came up with four "investors" willing to pledge $4.5 million. This, however, was not true. "In fact, Hotton was perpetrating an elaborate ruse. None of the investors existed; he had concocted them all," according to the lawsuit filed in New York state court. "Hotton made up the names, dates of birth, home addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and signatures of purported investors." When it came time for money to to be in the direct vicinity of the mouth area, Hotton stated that Paul Abrams, the largest single investor, had died of malaria and the three other investors were pulling out. Again, not true: "This was a lie," the suit said, "although plaintiffs did not know it at the time."

The show's producers have delayed its opening, and there are now doubts about the future of a musical that debuted in 2006 in Vienna, Austria, but has yet to make it to London or Broadway.