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White Horse Pictures founder Nigel Sinclair has been indicted for allegedly hiding over $25 million from the sales of stock in his former Intermedia production company in various offshore accounts.
In an eight count September 13 filing from the Department of Justice, the 76-year-old producer is accused of defrauding the federal government of over $5 million in tax revenue over more than 20 years. Sinclair “conspired with others to conceal these proceeds by depositing them into nominee bank accounts in Switzerland,” the feds say.
While having not entered a formal plea yet, Sinclair, through his lawyers, is insisting on his innocence and that the DOJ has misunderstood his financial arrangements.
Read the tax conspiracy indictment of Nigel Sinclair here
In that vein, the grand jury indictment is in part are the result of “Swiss informants who received complete immunity from the U.S. Department of Justice despite having committed countless felonies,” says UK-born Sinclair’s lawyers Thomas P. O’Brien of Greenberg Traurig, LLP., and Evan Davis of Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez P.C in a statement. The duo also say of the dual citizen Sinclair: “We are disappointed with this outcome despite our presenting substantial evidence of our client’s complete innocence to the prosecutors about unclear events that took place more than 25 years ago. Our client firmly and vehemently denies the wrongdoing alleged and has paid all taxes due on sums received.”
Back in late 2022, Sinclair handed over the White Horse reigns to the company’s then president Nicholas Ferrall to become CEO. The End of Watch, Lucy and Desi and The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years producer now sits as White Horse’s Non-Executive Chairman and a board member.
“There’s no connection between the indictment and White Horse Pictures,” added Davis in an interview Tuesday with Deadline. The tax case is expected to take at least two years to inch its way through the system to an actual trial with pleads, hearings, discovery and a possible extradition of Sinclair’s co-defendant accountant Andrew Stewart from Australia, Davis also noted
Even with that timeline, the government’s case may not have any connection to White Horse, but it has a big connection between the big bucks stock sale and a certain luxury home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“From in or around 2003, through in or around 2011, defendant SINCLAIR funneled approximately $12 million in Intermedia Funds to finance the acquisition of the land and the design, construction, and furnishment of an 8,000 square foot house,” says the 45-page indictment of the property – which is shown in photos in the filing.
If found guilty in what is portrayed by the DOJ as an elaborate shell game move, Sinclair faces “a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy.” The feds also say the producer is looking at “a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each filing a false tax return charge, a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each false FBAR charge and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the obstruction charge.”
With those sentences possibly looming, Hustle & Flow producer Stephanie Allain reached out to Deadline to vouch for Sinclair after the indictment was unveiled last week. “Nigel Sinclair is a legendary music documentarian and I’ve been grateful to work with him the past few years,” the Home Gorwn Pictures founder and Producers Guild of America co-president says. “His integrity, relentless work ethic and joyful attitude are rare to find in this business. He’s a stand-up gentleman.”
Sinclair and Allain appeared together at SXSW earlier this year on the conference’s “Tackling the Challenges Facing Independent Producers” panel.
The Department of Justice did not respond to request for comment by Deadline on the Sinclair indictment. If and when they do, we will update this post.
