TORONTO - A trial begins in Toronto today for Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, the co-founders the defunct Livent theatre company.
Each is charged with two counts of fraud and one count of forgery, in a long-awaited trial that is expected to last four months.
When charges were initially laid in 2002, Drabinsky and Gottlieb each faced 19 fraud counts, which were trimmed to 16 in 2005.
Most of the charges were subsequently dropped or rolled together by the Crown.
Drabinsky and Gottlieb are alleged to have misrepresented the theatre company's financial health in the nine years before the Toronto-based firm went bankrupt in late 1998.
The Crown's main witness is expected to be Gordon Eckstein, who used to Livent's vice-president of finance.
Eckstein was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day after he pleaded guilty last year to one count of fraud.
He's expected to face a withering cross-examination from defence lawyers Eddie and Brian Greenspan, who represent Drabinsky and Gottlieb respectively.
Neither Greenspan brother will say if their clients will take the witness stand in their own defence.
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
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