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“Dead Event”? a Primer on Livent V. Deloitte & Touche and What to Expect from the Supreme Court of Canada

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“Dead Event”? a Primer on Livent V. Deloitte & Touche and What to Expect from the Supreme Court of Canada LIVENT OR “DEAD EVENT”? A PRIMER ON LIVENT V. DELOITTE & TOUCHE AND WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA Shelley McGill Lazaridis School of Business & Economics Wilfrid Laurier University 1 LIVENT OR “DEAD EVENT”? A PRIMER ON LIVENT V. DELOITTE & TOUCHE1 AND WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA Introduction It seems a lifetime ago since the failure of Livent2 in 1998 – when the high profile Canadian entertainment production company imploded under the weight of its infamous founders’ fraud. Consider that Livent’s demise occurred a decade before the financial crisis of 2008,3 before the collapse of Enron4 and even before 911.5 Today’s world is a completely different place from what it was in the 1990’s when there was no SOX,6 no auditor partner rotation and no specialized public accounting oversight.7 How could Livent’s directorial and accounting malfeasance be relevant today when so much time has passed that even Livent’s criminal fraudsters have finished their respective periods of incarceration?8 Still, almost 20 years after Livent was placed 1 [2016]131 O.R.3d 784, 2016 ONCA 11(Can.) [Livent]. 2 Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada Inc., (and its successor Livent Inc.), a publicly traded company formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ [Livent], see: Anthony Vickery, Accounting Fraud at Live Entertainment Canada, Incorporated, 1993-1998, 7(2) INT’L J. ART MGMT 15, 15 (2005); The Canadian Press, Curtain Call: A Look at Key Events in the Livent Entertainment Fraud Scandal, Feb. 22, 2017, CITY NEWS (Toronto), http://www.citynews.ca/2017/02/22/curtain-call-a-look-at-key-events-in-the-livent- entertainment-fraud-scandal/ . 3 A world-wide financial crisis was experienced following the collapse of Lehman Brothers; see The Economist, The Origins of the Financial Crisis: Crash Course, online http://www.economist.com/news/schoolsbrief/21584534- effects-financial-crisis-are-still-being-felt-five-years-article 4 Enron Corp. was the largest US corporate bankruptcy at the time; its failure was attributed to questionable accounting practices which triggered a continent wide revision of corporate governance and accounting/auditing standards and brought down accounting giant Arthur Anderson. See Time, Behind the Enron Scandal, online http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2021097,00.html . 5 911 refers to the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre, New York. 6 Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745 (2002) (changing corporate governance standards for public companies following the collapse of Enron); See infra notes 139, 144, 145 (articles proposing massive overhaul to auditing regimes in the wake of Enron; most changes have been adopted by 2017). 7 Canadian Public Accounting Board (CPAB) was established in 2003 as Canada’s Audit Regulator: http://www.cpab-ccrc.ca/en/Pages/default.aspx?b_id=1889204596 ; See Paul D. Paton, Rethinking the Role of Auditor: Resolving the Audit/Tax Services Debate, 32 QUEEN’S L. J. 135-189, ¶¶ 8-15 (2006)(new measures include establishing CPAB, creating an Auditing and Assurance oversight Council, promulgating new auditor independence standards); New National Instrument 52-108 Auditor Oversight, O.S.C. NI 52-108, (2004) 27 OSCB 3227 (Can.) ; Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Corporate Gatekeeper Liability in Canada, 42(3) TEXAS INT’L L. J. 441-74, 462 (2007). 8 Drabinsky was convicted in 2009 and paroled in February 2013: Martin Knelman, Garth Drabinsky wins full parole for 2009 fraud convictions , THESTAR.COM, Jan. 20, 2014, online https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2014/01/20/garth_drabinsky_wins_full_parole_for_2009_fraud_convictions. html ; Gottlieb was also convicted in 2009, paroled in 2013 and ordered not to have contact with Drabinsky: The Canadian Press, Myron Gottlieb of former Livent gets full parole, THESTAR.COM, Mar. 28, 2013, online https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/03/28/myron_gottlieb_of_former_livent_gets_full_parole.html . 2 in receivership9 the Supreme Court of Canada is deliberating over the civil liability implications of this high profile corporate governance and auditing disaster.10 This article reviews the many legal issues that form the basis of the lawsuit brought by Livent against its auditor, Deloitte & Touche (Canada), for failing to discover, report, or shut down the fraud that was being perpetrated by Livent’s executive management. For those unfamiliar with the story, the first part of this paper summarizes the facts and identifies the key players. Part 2 of the paper traces the litigation through the Ontario civil court system. In part 3, the litany of issues raised by the facts are clustered under three reoccurring themes – corporate governance, public policy and the application of Hercules Management v Ernst & Young.11 These themes are applied to identify the key questions to be answered by the Supreme Court of Canada. Thereafter, the paper comments on how the Court should answer each question referencing the opposing legal arguments and the positions taken by intervenors from the accounting and corporate governance professions.12 Finally, the author speculates on Livent’s ultimate contribution to auditor liability jurisprudence. I. What Happened at Livent? In 1989 Garth Drabinsky13 and Myron Gottlieb formed a partnership known as MyGar and purchased the live entertainment division of Cineplex14 which included the Pantages Theatre in Toronto and the Canadian rights to produce The Phantom of the Opera.15 This was the beginning of the vertically integrated live entertainment business16 that would ultimately become Livent which developed, produced and housed live theatrical works in Canada and the United States through the 1990’s. This was also the year (1989) when MyGar hired Deloitte & Touche (Canada) (Deloitte) as its auditor, a position Deloitte would hold until Livent’s insolvency in 1998.17 9 Livent Inc. v. Deloitte & Touche, [2016]131 O.R.3d 784, 2016 ONCA 11 ¶¶ 46-47 (Can.) (Livent sought insolvency protection in November 1998 and placed in receivership in 1999) [Livent]. 10 Oral argument heard February 15, 2017 in S.C.C. Case No. 36875 http://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/dock- regi-eng.aspx?cas=36875 . Delay is not as rare as one might think see e.g. CIBC v Deloitte Touche 2016 ONCA 922 (trial scheduled for 2017 arising from financial statements of 1995 and 1996); Hercules Management v. Ernst &Young, [1997] 2 S.C.R. 165 (Can.)(the seminal case on auditor’s liability took over a decade – considered 1980, 81 & 82 statements) [Hercules]. 11 [1997] 2 S.C.R. 165 (Can.). 12 The Supreme Court granted intervenor status to the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and to the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance; Toronto Dominion Bank was denied intervenor status. 13 Garth Drabinsky was an Ontario lawyer. He was disbarred following his criminal convictions in the Livent fraud: http://www2.lsuc.on.ca/LawyerParalegalDirectory/loadDisciplineSummaryDetailsPage.do?iD=dytaybE%2fz5g%3d &startPoint=0&currentPoint=0&sublistIndex=1 and stripped of his Order of Canada http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/garth-drabinsky-loses-appeal-to-reclaim-order-of-canada-1.2899957 . 14 Cineplex was a movie theatre business where both Drabinsky and Gottlieb worked: R. v Drabinsky, [2011] 107 O.R. 3d 595, 2011 ONCA 582 ¶ 7 (Can.) [Drabinsky]. 15 Livent 2016 ONCA 11 ¶10. 16 Vickery, supra note 2, at 15-16 (referring to the old Hollywood film studio system popular in the 1930’s which brought together creation, production and distribution through the ownership of theaters) 17 Livent 2016 ONCA 11 ¶ 4. 3 In addition to Phantom of the Opera, MyGar produced Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat18 before going public in 1993 as Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada Inc. (Livent). Livent subsequently registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 1995 and went on to present Showboat,19 Music of the Night and Sunset Boulevard while expanding its theatre holdings to include the Lyric and Apollo in New York and the Oriental in Chicago.20 Drabinsky and Gottlieb continued to control Livent’s management and operation even after it went public.21 In 1994 Livent was the darling of the Canadian entertainment scene but the burden of the fixed costs associated with theatre renovation blended with the more intangible costs of show production provided the catalyst for the fraud that would see Livent’s financial statements and auditor’s reports misrepresent the income and liabilities of the company until its catastrophic failure in 1998. The actual fraud took a variety of forms over more than five years and involved players inside and outside Livent. There were kickbacks paid to Gottlieb and Drabinsky by suppliers through inflated invoices for theatre and production costs.22 Pre-production costs were rolled over from one show to the next to exaggerate the originating show’s profitability.23 To conceal the fraud, Raymond Cheong, Livent’s Manager of Information Services modified the accounting software to manipulate invoice dates and reverse posted entries.24 Together these actions produced an unrealistic picture of profitability by inflating income and deferring expenses. In addition to Choeng and Dianne Winkfein, the Livent Controller overseeing Cheong’s work, Drabinsky and Gottlieb surrounded themselves with other directors and officers who would facilitate or enable their plans.25 Maria Messina, a Deloitte partner on the Livent audit until 1996, quit to join Livent as VP of Finance and then Chief Financial Officer – she was “heavily involved in the creation of the fraudulent statements”26 which concealed the true nature of many transactions.27 The audit committee approved the Drabinsky/Gottlieb plans– often in the dark about the true nature of a transaction.28 18 A musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber staged in Toronto in 1992 starring Donny Osmond.
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