A Westchester private-equity honcho paid a husband-and-wife Brooklyn filmmaking team more than $150,000 in 2009 to produce a documentary on the Armenian genocide — and they still haven’t gotten around to making it, according to a federal lawsuit.
Kohlberg & Co. COO Shant Mardirossian, an active figure in the Armenian community, commissioned compatriots Alina and Zareh Tjeknavorian to complete a full-length documentary by April 2015 to coincide with the upcoming 100th anniversary of the start of the genocide, court papers state.
But the fed-up financier from Mount Kisco finally slapped the couple with the suit this week after they allegedly used the cash to pay for travel, research and camera equipment without ever showing evidence the film was in the works.
Mardirossian’s suit claims that they haven’t provided a single frame of film and have refused to return any of the pricey hardware they purchased with his cash.
The Tjeknavorians were “mired in tangential matters unrelated to the main plot of the film and were desperately behind schedule with no viable plan to get back on schedule,” court papers state.
Mardirossian would not comment on the case, and a lawyer for the filmmakers did not immediately return a call for comment.