What does actor Jackie Gold have in common with a car found abandoned at the scene of an accident three weeks ago that crashed into several newspaper stands near the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea? Both appear to have been abandoned by talent manager Reycie Santayana of MBS Enterprises. Back Stage West reported on Santayana in October after seven actors called to complain that the manager had taken their money but failed to provide the headshots she had promised to reproduce. The actors said they had paid Santayana between $75 and $200 for which they received nothing. Gold's complaint, however, is far more serious.
Gold said she completed work on a spec reality television show for which she earned $12,000—a sum she said Santayana took and deposited into her own account on Sept. 25. The manager then disappeared, Gold said. "The check was in my name, care of her," said Gold, "and somehow she took the check to Union Bank of California, and they either cashed it or put it into her account. She ended up giving me $2,000 of it and said, 'The check hasn't cleared. I'll give you the rest once the funds clear.' Then I waited three or four weeks. And it started to get really shady. I started questioning her, and she skipped out of town. I have no idea where she is. I think she might be in Ontario. I haven't heard from her in months."
Christopher Corabi, production attorney from the spec reality show, confirmed that the check had indeed been cashed. "It's awful," said Corabi. "There's really nothing we can do about it. I guess the bank is filling out some kind of fraud materials."
Another complaint from an actor may confirm Gold's suspicion that Santayana is on the run. Actor Carolyn Green called BSW after she said Santayana had taken $30 as well as her headshot masters and then disappeared in December. Three weeks ago, Green said she received a strange call from the Hollywood Police Department. "I got a call from a police officer asking me to identify her car," said Green. "They found it abandoned at the scene of an accident, and they found my headshots and information in her car, and so they asked me if I had ever heard of MBS Enterprises and could I identify the car and who it belonged to." An officer from the Hollywood Police Department confirmed that the car had indeed been found "parked on the sidewalk, having hit a couple of newspaper stands."
At this point, Green said, "All I want from her are my masters so I don't have to pay to get them done again, and I'd like to get my headshots back. She has about 80 headshots and three masters. It would be over $100 to get them printed again."
Gold, however, is still out $10,000. "It's more expensive to hire a lawyer than to sort this out myself," said Gold. "So I am trying to get the money from the bank first, and if that doesn't work I might have to hire a lawyer."
Gold said she had filed a police report and plans to report this to the appropriate agencies—the California Labor Commissioner, the Office of the District Attorney, and the Better Business Bureau.
California Labor Commissioner spokesman Dean Fryer suggested Gold take this up with the District Attorney's office and commented, "This would be considered theft and conversion and is criminal." Because of the amount of the money taken, the crime would be considered a felony. It would not be the first time Santayana has been taken to court. Actor Vilma Venera sued Santayana in December for $440 plus court costs after she said the manager had taken her money and failed to provide headshot reproductions as promised. Venera won when Santayana failed to show up to court. Perhaps not surprisingly, Venera says she has yet to receive a check.
Santayana did not respond to BSW's calls by press time. This Article is Courtesy of Backstage West.
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