Kiefer falls victim to cattle fraud
Pictures: Independent Woman
• amfAR New York Gala
• Red Dress Collection
• Safe House Premiere
• 20 Richest Supermodels
• A flash of floral for spring 2012
• Valentine's Gifts
By Jonathan Brown in Hollywood
Thursday Jan 28 2010
HIS on-screen character, the terrorist-swatting Jack Bauer from the white-knuckle action drama '24', is not the kind of man you would readily want to double-cross.
Yesterday, however, it emerged that actor Kiefer Sutherland is facing a bill of $869,000 (€616,000) after falling foul of an alleged cattle fraud.
Sutherland (43), who spent time out from the pressures of Hollywood in the late-1990s in a rodeo ranch in Montana, has been co-operating with prosecutors in California investigating a suspected Ponzi scheme by a cattle manager and competitive steer-roping promoter Michael Wayne Carr.
The saga began when Sutherland, son of 1960s screen star Donald Sutherland, was put in touch with Mr Carr through a financial adviser who checked out a deal to buy up steers in Mexico and sell them for a profit across the border in the US.
Sutherland invested $550,000 (€390,000) in the scheme and within 30 days of the initial investment, Mr Carr wired him $685,000, (€486,000), according to documents filed in court.
Investment
When Sutherland was offered the same deal a few months later, the money was paid but no cows appeared, it is alleged. Prosecutors say the money was used by Mr Carr to pay off a huge debt.
A couple from New Mexico also allegedly lost a $177,000 (€125,000) investment while a Colorado cattle mover is $400,000(€284,000) down on the deal that never was.
Mr Carr is expected to appear in court next month on 12 felony charges, among them multiple counts of grand theft, forgery and embezzlement. If convicted, he faces up to 18 years' jail.
In 2007 ,Sutherland served 48 days in prison in Los Angeles on a drink-driving charge. (©Independent News Service)
- Jonathan Brown in Hollywood
Irish Independent
Latest celebrity sightings
