DOCUMENT: Crime

Courteney Cox Pays Up In Swindle Case

View Document

Courteney Cox Pays Up In Swindle Case

JANUARY 27--When you're paid $18 million to appear on a dopey TV series, forking over 53 grand to settle a messy little bankruptcy court matter must seem like a trifle. "Friends" star Courteney Cox just agreed to return $53,500 that a federal court trustee alleged was improperly given to the actress by Dana Giacchetto, her disgraced former investment adviser. Cox is the latest celebrity to settle a "fraudulent conveyance" lawsuit brought by the court-appointed trustee overseeing the financial ruins of The Cassandra Group, once headed by the thieving Giacchetto, a felon who once called Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio friends. In August 2000, Giacchetto pleaded guilty to defrauding his lesser-known clients of millions and diverting some of those funds to A-list clients like Cox, Cameron Diaz, and Alanis Morissette (the stars unwittingly believed the money represented legitimate investment returns). Giacchetto spent 28 months in federal custody for his swindles. In the below settlement agreement, filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, Cox denied wrongdoing, stating that she forked over the money to "avoid the expense and delay of further litigation." The actress's disbursement, made through a trust she controls, will be divvied up between Giacchetto's numerous creditors. (6 pages)