Aviron Pictures was an American film production and distribution company founded by William Sadleir, founder of Clarius Entertainment (which, as the company went inactive shortly after his departure, Aviron can be considered a successor of) and David Dinerstein, a founder of Paramount Classics and formerly of

Lakeshore Entertainment Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...

and LD Entertainment, in 2017.

History

In May 2017, it was announced David Dinerstein had launched a film production and distribution company that would release up to eight

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical r ...

films, per year, starting off to distribute ''

Kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

'', '' Drunk Parents'', and '' The Strangers: Prey at Night''. In February 2018, it was announced the company had acquired '' Serenity'', and ''

A Private War ''A Private War'' is a 2018 American biographical war drama film directed by Matthew Heineman, and starring Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin. The film is based on the 2012 article "Marie Colvin’s Private War" in ''Vanity Fair'' by Mar ...

''. In 2019, a lawsuit was filed by investor

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...

against Aviron and its founder William Sadlier, citing fraud and financial impropriety in the company structure. Sadlier subsequently exited from his role as the operating manager of Aviron Pictures, a subsidiary of Aviron Group, in January 2020; he had already had a history of sketchy financial health, even further proven from the short history of money-losing features from his previous company Clarius Entertainment, directly resulting in said company silently ending most operations shortly after his departure in 2015. On May 22, 2020,

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight New York counties: New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan. Establish ...

Geoffrey Berman Geoffrey Steven Berman (born September 12, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. Berman served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern Dis ...

, announced multiple fraud charges against William Sadleir. He was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft to convince BlackRock to invest $75 million in his Aviron Group, he then allegedly siphoned off more than $20 million from his production company and diverted more than $14 million of it into his mansion. Sadlier also allegedly redirected nearly $1 million of the Coronavirus

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARE ...

loans he applied, meant to keep Aviron staff on payroll, for his personal debts. On January 19, 2022, Sadlier pled guilty and was sentenced on September 9, 2022 to 72 months in prison.

Filmography

References

External links

Official website
{{Film Studio Film distributors of the United States Mass media companies established in 2017 Mass media companies disestablished in 2020

History

Filmography

See also

References

External links