Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb, co-founders of now now-defunct theatrical production company Livent Inc., have been convicted on fraud and forgery charges.

Justice Mary Lou Benotto of Ontario Superior Court in Toronto ruled Wednesday that Drabinsky and Gottlieb were guilty of fraud and forgery in their running of Livent in the mid-1990s.

Prosecutors had maintained that Drabinsky and Gottlieb directed a scheme to make the ailing company look healthy, bilking investors of approximately $500 million between Dec. 14, 1989, and June 23, 1998.

The charges against the pair were laid back in October 2002.

The maximum possible penalty on a fraud conviction is 10 years in jail, while it’s 14 years for a forgery conviction.

IE