Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Paris, oh Paris

The Paris Hilton trial starts tomorrow. Our prior coverage is here. I imagine it's going to be a circus (as far as circuses go in federal court; remember no tweeting or blogging!) in the Chief Judge's courtroom tomorrow. I'm hoping to get an exclusive blog interview with Paris... if I do, what questions should I ask her, my dear readers?

Here's Curt Anderson's preview of the case:

In an odd intersection of showbiz and securities fraud, proving a claim that Paris Hilton was a lousy pitchwoman would benefit investors jilted by a Ponzi scheme she had no part in.
A federal lawsuit set to go to trial Thursday against Hilton contends she didn't do enough to promote the 2006 sorority hijinks movie "Pledge This!" and seeks about $8 million in damages from Hilton and her company, Paris Hilton Entertainment Inc.
One of the main investors in the box-office bomb was once a high-flying concert and theater promoter from Miami named Jack Utsick, who was listed as one of the movie's producers. When the admittedly bad movie lost money, his now-defunct Worldwide Entertainment Group took a financial hit.
But it's not Utsick who's suing Hilton. Rather, the lawsuit stems from an effort to repay people ripped off in what federal securities investigators say was a $300 million Ponzi scheme hatched by Utsick. Hilton's work on the film had nothing to do with the scheme.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Worldwide Entertainment was a multimillion-dollar fraud and won a civil judgment earlier this year against Utsick and several associates. A federal judge appointed attorney Michael Goldberg as receiver to collect as much money as possible for some 3,300 wronged investors.
It was Goldberg who filed the lawsuit against Hilton. He claims she failed to adequately promote the DVD release for "Pledge This!" and that she deprived the film's investors of $8.3 million in profits by not cooperating.


What about the defense:

Hilton and her attorneys claim she went the extra mile to plug the movie, which played in just 25 theaters and made only about $2.9 million worldwide, according to court documents. Hilton, 28, is expected to testify in the three-day bench trial before U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno.
In a deposition, Hilton said she did promotion events at the Cannes Film Festival in France, appeared at the movie's Chicago premiere and generally mentioned it publicly whenever possible.
"Any chance I got, any red carpet, any press, if I was doing something for another product, even if I wasn't asked about it, I would just bring it up," she said.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh - this is great... a media wh*&e blogger, and....Paris Hilton.

I can imagine the interview:

David: Hi, Paris. I'm David Markus. Hee hee.

Paris: Um, like, do you have a cigarette.

David: Paris, smoking is bad for you.

Paris: This is so, like, boring. Why am I here? Why is that guy with the Rickey Ricardo accent wearing a black dress?

David: Paris, that's the Judge. Judge Moreno.

Paris: Whatever.

David: Paris, do you like Miami.

Paris: Blank stare back at our favorite blogger, followed by a snicker and a scratch of her crotch.

David: Paris, how do you feel about your chances in this trial?

Paris: My defense is hot. My lawyers are like totally hot. Its hot. Im hot. Its so hot.

Markus: Blank stare and a snicker back.

Paris: Are we done?

David: you have boobies.

Anonymous said...

You keep bustin' on David and you gonna have some issues -- make fun of the chief, make fun of Paris, make fun of anybody you like...but David???...Betta back off!

That's Not Hot.

Anonymous said...

I hear that Paris tries to seduce men with her eyes. Watch out!

Anonymous said...

To: 10:38 P.M.

That dialogue is hilarious.

Anonymous said...

Paris slips DOM some X. DOM found wandering in front of a Hialeah motel with big smile on face 3 days later. Film at 11.

Anonymous said...

Paris and Jimmy Neutron sitting in the tree,blogging all the way to ....

Anonymous said...

Paris spotting at the courthouse- crazy outfit and pigtails.

Chrystal K. said...

Aaahhh Miami, I can’t wait to go back.