Entertainment

James Franco's Got Another Big Problem

by Emma Goddard

Considering it’s James Franco’s 36th birthday today (a.k.a., too old to be texting teenagers from Instagram), you’d think everything would be fine and dandy for the Palo Alto actor. However, things have not been going his way (this is called "karma," as they probably shouldn’t with some of the sketchy things he’s been up to lately) and the celebrity keeps facing problem after problem. This time, it isn’t Franco who is in the wrong, though: Instead, it’s his ex-managers'. According to the Wrap, James Franco's ex-managers reportedly embezzled commissions sums from him for years, totaling millions. Yikes.

Randy James of James/Levy Management and Ken Jacobson filed the lawsuit against the ex-financial managers, Miles Levy and Steve Blatt, on Friday in California Superior court. The suit claims that Levy (who happens to be a childhood friend of Randy James) told James/Levy Management years ago that Franco would not be paying their firm a 15 percent management commission anymore, but would instead begin paying a 10 percent commission. The firm agreed, but here's the issue — Franco had no clue this conversation even went down. The actor continued to pay the firm its normal 15 percent commission without him knowing, and Levy just took the extra 5 percent for himself. Blatt then allegedly assisted Levy in setting up a dummy corporation which he could siphon the funds into, like a plotline out of Breaking Bad.

James believes that Levy and Blatt used the five percent income toward a corporation by the name of Down Goes Frazier Inc. Apparently, the embezzling has occurred over a several year span from 2006 to 2014.

Even with the lawsuit against Levy and Blatt, the duo decided to strike back with claims that “JLM, the management company, was rife with internal mismanagement, surreptitious behavior, duplicitousness and questionable ethical acts,” in a 7-page filing made to the LA Superior Court. This is why everyone says money can’t buy happiness… because when you think it does, you end up getting sued. That’s pretty much how all money stories end, right?

Although Franco has yet to comment on the lawsuit, it’s probably accurate to assume that he is not exactly overjoyed about being in the middle of this dilemma — though, it should be noted he settled the whole ordeal with his ex-managers ages ago. At least, with his morning birthday selfies from earlier today, it looks like Franco isn’t going to let the scandal get to him. Probably because he’s recognized that 17-year-old girls and lawsuits are not a good look. So, happy birthday I guess?

Image: jamesfrancotv/Instagram