NYC Jury: Book Scheme Was a Scam

Contracts

Posted Jun 25, 2007, 01:23 pm CST
By Martha Neil

Counsel for Laura Albert said she met her contractual obligation. It didn't matter that she wasn't a male prostitute, her defense contended, nor that the book she wrote, "Sarah," was actually fiction rather than non-fiction. She entered into a contract to sell Antidote International Films Inc. the movie rights to her book, and that's what the production company got.

But a federal jury in New York City sided with the production company that spent more than $100,000 filming what its operators thought was a true story, after purchasing the book Albert wrote under a pseudonym, reports AP. Albert's elaborate scheme to create an identity for the non-existent J.T. LeRoy was a fraud, the panel decided on Friday, awarding Antidote $110,000 plus $6,500 in punitive damages.

And that may not be all. The presiding judge says he will decide later whether to award attorney fees, too.

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