With Thomas Barrack Facing Federal Charges, What Happens to

Former Colony Capital CEO Thomas Barrack, a longtime ally of Donald Trump who was arrested on Tuesday on seven federal prison prices, has lengthy had ties to Hollywood past his dwelling in Santa Monica.

A decade in the past, the 74-year-old personal fairness actual property investor partnered with development magnate Ronald Tutor and the Qatar Investment authority to purchase Miramax from Disney for $660 million. He served as chairman of firm, principally signing licensing offers for the 700-film library of Oscar-winning titles with out producing a lot new content material.

The one-time indie large had fallen on exhausting instances after the 2005 exit of founding companions Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who tried to purchase again the corporate from Barrack and his companions. Instead, Barrack bought Miramax in 2016 to the Qatar-based beIN Media Group for an undisclosed quantity.

Barrack, who based Colony Capital in 1990, continued to discover Hollywood ventures within the final decade — and even saved Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch from foreclosures in 2008. (After a number of stints on and off the market, that property lastly bought to Ron Burkle for $22 million in 2020.)

Barrack’s Colony Capital introduced a plan to bail out the beleaguered Weinstein Company in October 2017 — simply days after sexual harassment and assault accusations compelled the abrupt ouster of firm co-founder Harvey Weinstein. However, Colony Capital pulled out of the deliberate deal lower than two weeks later, partially as a result of the corporate couldn’t determine a method to put money into the corporate with out personally enriching Harvey Weinstein.

More not too long ago, in 2019, Colony Capital was reported to be in talks to buy Legendary Entertainment, a Burbank-based movie and TV firm owned by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group. A deal by no means materialized.

It wasn’t the primary time Colony kicked the tires on an enormous Hollywood funding. In 2011, the corporate had additionally circled the “American Pie” and “Twilight” studio Summit Entertainment earlier than Lionsgate swooped in for $412.5 million. And the next 12 months, Colony was amongst 40 potential bidders for Dick Clark Productions — which went to Guggenheim Partners, Mandalay Entertainment and Mosaic Media Investment Partners for $350 million.

But extra not too long ago, Colony Capital — rebranded as DigitalBridge final month — has targeted on digital infrastructure with investments in cellphone-tower corporations and the airport WiFi service Boingo. It’s additionally been shifting to extricate itself from the cloud introduced by prison investigations into Barrack, who stepped down as CEO final 12 months after which as government chairman in March 2021.

Barrack, who chaired former President Trump’s 2017 inauguration fund, was indicted with two others of seven counts of unlawfully attempting to affect the international coverage positions of the Trump marketing campaign and administration to advance the pursuits of the United Arab Emirates, in keeping with the Justice Department. Barrack was additionally charged with obstruction of justice and making a number of false statements to federal brokers.

A consultant for Barrack didn’t reply a request for remark, however his legal professional stated he would plead not responsible. DigitalBridge didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.