December
3 Investors lose $40M on movies; they're shocked. Just shocked.

Heads up, everyone: Financing movies? If you're doing it because you like premiere invitations, that's a great idea. If you're doing it because you like money, gee... maybe try one of those nice CD accounts? Four investment groups with names that suggest they should know better (Allianz Risk Transfer, Marathon Structured Finance Fund LP, Newstar Financial, Munich Capital Markets) are suing Paramount Pictures, saying they lost their entire $40.1 million investment "by misrepresenting the risks of a private placement offering to finance Paramount movies.... Plaintiffs say Paramount induced them to invest by lying about its risk mitigation and/or by changing its risk mitigation techniques without informing them." The companies were part of Melrose Investors, a group of hedge funds that put up 18% of the capital for 26 consecutive Paramount movies in 2004 and 2005; in return, they were supposed to receive 18% of the money Paramount made from the movies.