An Orange County fraud trial has been scheduled for the Southern California-based producer of a series of soft porn films who allegedly ripped off $20,000 from an investor.
According to a lawsuit filed by Michael N. Carroll of Laguna Niguel, Virtuoso Entertainment, LLC producer Landon Duval signed a Nov. 2008 written contract and personal guarantee to pay Carroll between a whopping $20,000 and $30,000 a month “with no cap” if Carroll invested just $20,000.
Aliso Viejo's Duval has produced films such as Wild Next Door Girls, Geisha Party Asian Style, Slumber Party Latina Style, Pool Party California Style, R&B Party Ebony Style, Beach Party San Diego Style and Night Club Party Las Vegas Style.
My personal favorite was the editor's cut of Barbara Bush Gone Wild Honey BBQ Style.
]
(I kid.)
Anyho, Carroll claims in his court brief that Duval took his money, never paid
a penny in royalties and, though it doesn't appear that criminal charges were ever filed, threatened to kill him when made an inquiry into the finances.
Duval, who is representing himself in the case, filed a court declaration denying all of Carroll's accusations. He also claims that Carroll waited too long to file his lawsuit and suggested that the plaintiff caused his own financial loss.
Late last week, Orange County Superior Court Judge William Monroe scheduled an Aug. 20 trial
date. Both parties agreed to ignore jury rights. Monroe, a former U.S.
Marine and 1996 Gov. Pete Wilson appointee to the bench, will decided
the victor on his own.
Carroll is seeking at least $1 million in punitive damages plus all royalties he's owed. He should have known he was being duped if for no other reason than the contract Duval produced. He spelled “timely manner” incorrectly as “timely manor.”
If there's something familiar about Wild
Next Door Girls, it may prove you like to watch TV in the wee hours
of the morning. The films were sold for $9.99–“Act now! An $80 value!”–in
infomercials that showed “innocent young women having fun
with a taste of class.”
–R. Scott Moxley (rscottmoxley at ocweekly dot com)
(Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!)
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.