Annie Leibovitz is $715,000 in debt *Update* Agreement Reached

[EvaIntl]

i was surprised when i read this, but i think she'll be fine. like wintour said, she's basically irreplacable.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

I am sure she can pay that with the Miley money.

haha, I was so gonna say that.

 

[sethii]

She's being sued by another party for $300,000

Leibovitz sued by photographer

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz is being sued by an Italian photographer who says she used his pictures without permission.

Paolo Pizzetti claims Ms Leibovitz used photos he took in Venice and Rome, and passed them off as her own in a 2009 calendar for a coffee company.
He is seeking a court order to stop the images from being used and $300,000 (£183,000) for copyright infringement.

A spokesperson for Ms Leibovitz declined to comment.

According to legal papers filed at a New York federal court, Mr Pizzetti said Ms Leibovitz, 59, hired him to scout locations in Italy for an advertising campaign for LavAzza coffee in April 2008.

He said he photographed the Trevi Fountain in Rome and Plaza San Marco in Venice as well as other images which he sent to her digitally, but was later informed Ms Leibovitz would not be travelling to Italy for the photo shoot.

'Same bird'

Mr Pizzetti said that in October, when the calendar was released, he noticed two of his photographs had been used, with models superimposed on it.

A comparison of the Plaza San Marco photo shows "the same wet weather conditions, cloud formation and the same bird in the upper left portion of the photograph," Mr Pizzetti said in the complaint.

"It is clear that the Leibovitz defendants copied the Plaza work authored by Pizzetti and edited it," he said.

He added that Ms Leibovitz at no point told him she planned on using his photographs in the calendar, nor requested his permission to do so.

Mr Pizzetti is also other seeking unspecified damages as well as requesting the photographs to be destroyed.

The legal case is the latest to hit Ms Leibovitz, who is also currently being sued for defaulting on a $24m (£14.6m) loan secured against the rights to her entire collection.

If she does not pay back the loan to the Art Capital Group by 8 September, she is in danger of losing the copyright to the thousands of her negatives it has in storage, as well as her three properties in New York.

news.bbc.co.uk

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

where did all her money go? to the camera shops?

 

[eternitygoddess]

I have the same question. She should be making at the very least, a decent amount, being one of the world's foremost fashion photographers. Where did all her money go?

This is why I always doubt how much celebs really have in the bank, despite their glitzy lifestyle.

 

[jml2]

I really don't get how this happens.

 

[ultramarine]

i read somewhere that it all started with the renos on her country house and how it turned into an immense moneypit ... i really really want her to get her head over the water ... lets hope for the best

 

[BerlinRocks]

If she does not pay back the loan to the Art Capital Group by 8 September, she is in danger of losing the copyright to the thousands of her negatives it has in storage, as well as her three properties in New York.

ouch ... that would be kind of a disaster for her, i guess.

can she sell all her artworks before this happen ?
it would be then in hands of collectors and not in people's hands who could use it the wrong way for franchise thingies ...

She should sell two of her NY properties ...
I don't get it ! Why isn't she doing this ?

I guess her lawyers said not to ...

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

and now she needs to take a lot more pictures of just about anyone.

 

[tigerrouge]

The New York Times reports:

Agreement Reached on a Reprieve for Leibovitz Loan Repayment

September 11, 2009

Charles Dharapak/Associated Press Annie Leibovitz during a photo shoot earlier this year.

Annie Leibovitz and the company that loaned her $24 million, Art Capital Group, announced this afternoon they have reached an agreement to restructure the photographer’s finances and settle a lawsuit between them.

The loan was due Sept. 8, and after days of negotiations, the parties released a joint statement about the settlement that appeared to spare Ms. Leibovitz, for now, the indignity of losing the rights to her photographs and her homes, both of which she had pledged as collateral. A joint statement released by Ms. Leibovitz and Art Capital read:

The agreement will result in the withdrawal of the suit that Art Capital filed against Ms. Leibovitz on July 29, 2009 and extends the maturity date for the $24 million loan Art Capital provided Ms. Leibovitz, which was originally due on September 8, 2009. Ms. Leibovitz has also purchased from Art Capital its rights to act as exclusive agent in the sale of her real property and copyrights. Ms. Leibovitz will therefore retain control of those assets within the context of the loan agreement which shall prevail until satisfied.​

“In these challenging times I am appreciative to Art Capital for all they have done to resolve this matter and for their cooperation and continued support,” Ms. Leibovitz said. “I also want to thank my family, friends, and colleagues for being there for me and look forward to concentrating on my work.”

Ian Peck, chief executive officer of Art Capital Group, said: “We’re gratified to be able to further assist Ms. Leibovitz to achieve financial stability and proud to have been of such value to her at this juncture in her life and career.”

Ms. Leibovitz’s plight has attracted interest since the news broke in February that, faced with mounting debts and court cases from unpaid vendors, she had borrowed millions of dollars from Art Capital, using the rights to her photographs as collateral.

In July, the lender filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court claiming that Ms. Leibovitz owed it hundreds of thousands of dollars in past-due fees and was not cooperating with its efforts to sell her photographic archive and prepare her homes for a potential sale.

In a separate suit, Art Capital sued Getty Images, claiming the photo agency had negotiated an improper contract with Ms. Leibovitz, which made it difficult for Art Capital to continue its efforts to sell the Leibovitz archive for $50 million.