Livent duo to be sentenced for fraud

Two theatre heavyweights convicted of a massive fraud spanning nearly a decade will be sentenced Wednesday.

Garth Drabinsky and his business partner Myron Gottlieb were found guilty of two counts each of fraud and one count of forgery for defrauding investors of millions.

Their company, Livent, was behind such Canadian and Broadway theatre hits as The Phantom of the Opera.

Drabinsky and Gottlieb are alleged to have misrepresented the theatre company's financial health in the nine years before the Toronto-based firm went bankrupt in late 1998.

The Crown is seeking eight to 10 years imprisonment, while defence lawyers are asking for conditional sentences of two years less a day, plus probation and community service.

The men had pleaded not guilty to all charges, arguing that underlings had cooked the books without their knowledge.