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Thursday, July 30, 2015

Hawaii Dodges $500M Bullet as Billionaire Movie Mogul Declares Bankruptcy

By Andrew Walden @ 11:51 PM :: 10555 Views
 

by Andrew Walden

Billionaire Clinton crony Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media filed for bankruptcy today.

Lucky Hawaii.

In 2011 and 2012, Kavanaugh spent $218K bribing Hawaii legislators.  Legislators got 35 free Blu-Ray DVD sets valued at $360 each and one even scored an I-pad.

Relativity execs testified in support of 2011 HB1308 and SB 1550 which would have boosted TV and movie tax credits up to 35% on Oahu and 40% on the sister islands. 

The bills failed.

In 2012, Relativity came back pushing a PLDC land deal adjacent to Hoopili and grasping for a slice of the money in a $500M Senate ‘Accelerator’ plan.

That failed too.

Relativity tried and failed again with a multi-mullion dollar subsidized movie studio deal on Maui after Kavanaugh's original $500M scheme for four studios-one on each major island--fell through.

The primary mover behind Relativity's failed "Accelerator Package"--Senate Ways and Means Chair David Ige. 

After the plan's failure, a 'disappointed' Ige told Associated Press: "The tax credit fell apart. We'll keep working at it. We've been working at this area a long time. It brings the kind of jobs that we want, that our children want, and we really do believe the activity ends up being a net gain for our economy."

Read the bankruptcy filing here: Relativity Media, LLC Petition

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Relativity In Hawaii:

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