Giancarlo Parretti

Giancarlo Parretti is an Italian financier. He formerly owned the movie studio Pathé and in 1990 bought MGM, using money borrowed from a Dutch subsidiary of Crédit Lyonnais and contingent on future profits financing the purchase from mogul Kirk Kerkorian. During that period the movie studio released almost no movies (one victim being the James Bond franchise), while Parretti enjoyed a Hollywood mogul lifestyle. Eventually his ownership dissolved in a flurry of lawsuits and a default by Crédit Lyonnais, and Parretti faced securities fraud charges in the United States and Europe.