Producer Levin indicted for stock fraud

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LOS ANGELES, March 19 (UPI) -- A federal grand jury in Los Angeles Wednesday indicted producer and former television company chief executive officer Drew Savitch Levin for stock fraud.

Levin, 54, is accused in a 13-count indictment of orchestrating a scam designed to artificially inflate his company's revenue and stock price, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Levin was the founder of Team Communications Group Inc., a company that produces and distributes television programming, including made-for-television movies. He served as chief executive officer of the company until early 2001.

Levin was charged with conspiracy, falsifying the company's books and records, making false statements in Team's annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, making false statements to Team's outside auditors and giving false testimony to the SEC in a deposition.

Levin is expected to surrender to authorities Friday and make his initial appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

If convicted of the 13 counts in the indictment, Levin faces a statutory maximum penalty of 200 years in federal prison.

The indictment is part of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.