Eagle Awards at stake amid Nosotros dispute
Last week, an attorney for awards show producer Frank Nanoia fired off a letter to Nosotros' governing board, warning them that preparations for the June '93 event were being impeded by the board's inability to reach a decision on charges leveled six weeks ago.
The Nosotros board launched an investigation last month (Daily Variety, Oct. 5) into allegations that Nanoia and board president Marc Allen Trujillo had used sponsor monies for the event to pay personal bills. In the interim, they suspended both Nanoia and Trujillo.
To date, the board has hired an accountant who conducted an investigation into the charges, but not an official audit. As of yesterday, they had not reached any conclusions.
Meanwhile, Nanoia's attorney, Stanley Patnoi, gave the board until today to contact him with a decision, saying that his client will otherwise view the matter as ended.
"Your failure to timely comply with this demand will be construed as an admission that your actions have no basis in fact and are designed to maliciously interfere with my client's business," Patnoi wrote.
Attorney meeting set
One board member noted that the group is scheduled to meet with its attorney today to discuss how it should proceed. That board member noted that the board has been receiving daily letters from Nanoia and Trujillo demanding that this be resolved.
This marks another chapter in a long history of in-fighting and character attacks within the organization.
Last year similar charges were made when Trujillo was re-elected as president , beating out org founder Ricardo Montalban. The group was also investigated by the Attorney General's office in 1991 for income reporting procedures, but no wrongdoing was found.
Yesterday, Nanoia--who has produced the Golden Eagle Awards for several years--said he was "very frustrated" by the fact that no decision has yet been made.
