Celebrity money manager surrenders book rights

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former celebrity money manager Dana Giacchetto surrendered his share of a book deal and rights to his story to a bankruptcy trustee to satisfy about $3 million owed to former clients and others, according to federal court documents filed on Friday.

In a settlement filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Giacchetto relinquished any rights to a movie, TV show or serialization of the book, "You Will Make Money in Your Sleep: The Story of Dana Giacchetto, Financial Advisor to the Stars."

He also surrendered any intellectual property rights to the book, and his life rights, until his creditors receive full repayment, said Bob Wolf, special litigation counsel to bankruptcy trustee Robert Geltzer.

Giacchetto pleaded guilty to fraud in 2000 for taking money from accounts of non-celebrity clients to finance a high-flying lifestyle and give extraordinary returns or mask losses to star clients like Tobey Maguire, Courteney Cox and Cameron Diaz.

He served three years in prison, was barred from the investment advisory business and agreed to pay $14.4 million to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

The bankruptcy trustee represents the interests of clients and other creditors who were bilked out of an estimated $10 million to $15 million by Giacchetto's former company, The Cassandra Group, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2000.

Geltzer and Wolf have recovered about $7 million during the seven years of bankruptcy proceedings and estimated that creditors were still owed $3 million.

The bankruptcy trustee sued Giacchetto last year after discovering that he had set up a company called Legis to sell the rights to his life story to author Emily White in exchange for half of the book's proceeds.

"Those were assets of Giacchetto's that the trustee had the right to translate into return for the claimants," Wolf said. "We now share 50-50 in the book proceeds and in the sale of any other rights stemming from the book."

Giacchetto is entitled to 10 percent of the trustee's share of the revenues, Wolf said.

The bankruptcy trustee can also try to license fictionalized versions of Giacchetto's life to generate revenue to satisfy his debts, Wolf said.

"We are going to try to shop it," he said.