Producer Joel Silver paid $ 1.7 million to the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas to cover Ron Meyer’s gambling debt in July 2014, several sources confirmed Variety.
At the time, Meyer was the vice president of NBCUniversal and Silver – his good friend – had a distribution deal with the studio. A few months earlier, Silver had received a $ 4 million advance from NBCUniversal on its savings on proceeds from ‘Non-Stop’, an action film starring Liam Neeson.
According to a source who spoke to Petrocelli about the case, NBCUniversal has come to the attention of NBCUniversal over the past two weeks and asked the studio to ask attorney Daniel Petrocelli.
According to the source confirming an email after the transaction, Silver’s payment was specifically designated to pay off Meyer’s marker at the casino.
Anthony Pellicano, the former private investigator who worked for Silver as a negotiator, confirmed Variety that Silver made the payment to the casino on behalf of Meyer. He also confirmed the exact amount of the payment: $ 1,736,000. But he said the payment was not related to Silver’s $ 4 million advance on earnings from ‘Non-Stop’.
“The one had nothing to do with the other,” Pellicano said. “The amount of money Joel Silver sent to the Wynn Casino did not come from Joel Silver and had nothing to do with his advance.”
Pellicano said the funds came from Silver from a third party he did not want to name, and that Silver only paid the money to the casino. He said the third party had no connection to NBCUniversal. He did not explain why Silver would agree to be a gateway for the funds.
“There’s a big long story with it all I’m not going to tell you,” Pellicano said. “There are other things going on. It’s a matter of convenience. This is not a sinister thing. It’s simple. This is an accommodation. That’s all. ”
Meyer and NBCUniversal declined to comment on the story. Petrocelli, an outside litigator at O’Melveny and Myers, responded on behalf of the company, although he declined to discuss the situation.
“I represent NBCUniversal in a variety of matters, and I will not discuss any specific matter,” Petrocelli said.
“Non-Stop” was the first film produced under Silver’s NBCUniversal agreement. Silver produced the film in collaboration with StudioCanal, and it was released in February 2014. In that month, NBCUniversal Silver offered the $ 4 million as an advance against its background profit. The film grossed $ 222 million worldwide.
According to Pellicano, NBCUniversal eventually recovered three-quarters of the advance, leaving about $ 1 million that was not recovered.
Meyer was one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood until he resigned last August amid a sex scandal. He was a co-founder of Creative Artists Agency and worked at NBCUniversal for 25 years.
His gambling issues have been documented before, most recently in ‘Powerhouse’, the 2017 book describing the history of CAA. Writer James Andrew Miller wrote that Meyer repeatedly had ” a huge disturbing debt, once in the hole for a few million dollars. ‘The book also reports that Ray Stark, the legendary independent producer who died in 2004, once lent Meyer money to pay off a debt.