Rebecca Producers Planning to File $100 Million Lawsuit Against Arrested Financier

Another day, another crazy Rebecca story! Producers of the famously troubled musical, which cancelled its November Broadway opening after a string of financial misfortunes, are planning to file a $100 million lawsuit against arrested financier Mark Hotton, reports the New York Post.

Chief producer Ben Sprecher is leading the suit against Hotton, who was arrested on October 15 on charges of defrauding the show’s producers after leading the group to believe that he had obtained $4.5 million in financial commitments and another potential $1.1 million in loans. An investigation launched in September found that Hotton had accepted tens of thousands of dollars in advance commissions for investor pledges that had never existed.

According to the Post, the suit is a civil action case that accuses Hotton and his wife Sherri of “trying to destroy a promising Broadway show” and “perpetrating an elaborate ruse. None of the investors existed, he had concocted them all.”

Hotton faces the same charges in the civil action suit as he does in a Manhattan federal suit, which charged the former stockbroker with two counts of wire fraud. From the federal suit, Hotton faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count.