Alleged KSL 'Villain' Charness Lawyers Up

Geoffrey Charness, the former controller at KSL Media, could face serious jail time if half the allegations KSL Media alleges he committed during his tenure at the agency are proven in court. Of course, in Los Angeles, that’s always a big "if."

But Charness isn’t taking the accusations lying down. While he’s been keeping a low profile since KSL Media accused him of stealing millions from the now bankrupt media agency, Charness has hired a very high-profile Los Angeles attorney to defend him against the KSL charges. 

Matthew Geragos -- one of LA’s  “celebrity” lawyers -- has taken Charness on as a client in the KSL matter, according to court filings. He is the brother of Mark Geragos -- even more well-known for the some of the celebrity criminal cases he has handled, including ones involving the late Michael Jackson, actor Winona Ryder, rapper Chris Brown, and Susan McDougal, who played a role in the Clinton-era Whitewater scandal. The two lawyers often work together, with Matthew Geragos serving as civil co-counsel.

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Charness’ wife Jennifer has also lawyered up -- court documents show that she is represented by Elizabeth Culley with the law firm of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell.

KSL, now going through the bankruptcy process in California to wind down its affairs, has accused Geoffrey and Jennifer Charness of funneling $145 million in the firm’s money through personal credit card accounts. The firm said the pair stole millions while eventually shifting some of the money back to KSL coffers. Forensic accountants are currently investigating just how much of the money was stolen and not returned -- a process that will take months, the media firm has said.

For now, the Charnesses have not been charged with crimes. KSL has sued them in the civil branch of Los Angeles Superior Court -- a case that is currently on hold as the bankruptcy proceeding continues. KSL has told both the LA Superior Court and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that it is cooperating with a parallel investigation being conducted by the FBI. The Bureau declined to comment on the matter.

Calls to the Charness lawyers seeking comment were not returned.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge hearing the KSL case has ordered American Express to make available to KSL all documents related to the accounts the company said were allegedly used to embezzle company funds.

The judge has also set December 19 as the deadline for most creditors to file their claims against KSL. There are exceptions, including government claims which aren’t due until next March.
1 comment about "Alleged KSL 'Villain' Charness Lawyers Up".
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  1. Simon Sims from Simple Math Solutions, November 8, 2013 at 6:41 p.m.

    Given the history of KSL's Management team (Hank Cohen, Kal Liebowitz and David Sklaver) I would not be surprised if there isn't more to this story. An Agency of KSL's size probably couldn't last 3 months let alone 3 years if those sort of funds were missing.

    #airtime2
    #wellsrichgreene2

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