Keira Knightley's Agent's Bogus Signature Could Be Smoking Gun In Bizarre Hollywood Lawsuit

It's a classic Hollywood tale that happens repeatedly – people who claim to be connected to big stars trying to cut deals. Still, one Broadway producer is fighting tooth and nail to ensure that others do not get swindled with false promises of huge celebrity involvement. Now, Keira Knightley's agent's falsified signature could be the evidence that finally brings down justice.

Starvox Entertainment, run by producer, Corey Ross, is still relentlessly pursuing justice after nearly five years of legal battles against Rubicon Falls Entertainment, headed by R. Scott Reid. Ross originally sued Rubicon and another production company, June Entertainment, led by John Ryan Jr. in 2017, claiming he forked over $200,000 to cast coveted celebrities for its Broadway shows, including Gary Oldman, Miley Cyrus, Keira Knightley, and Al Pacino in shows hoping to reach Broadway. Ross said he paid $25,000 for Rubicon Falls Ent. to lock down Oldman, $45,000 for Cyrus, $55,000 for Pacino, and a whopping $75,000 for Knightly. The lawsuit was originally filed in New York but was forced to change venues because the defendants reside in California and allegedly have never done business in NY State.

Ross and Starvox are represented by U.S. LAW GROUP, which has retained Mr. Patrick T. Santos back in April as the trial attorney to prosecute the action. Santos and Starvox claim that the scam's perpetrator went so far as to continue the lie of trying to cast the celebrities that one of the defendants forged Knightley's agent Adam Isaacs' signature. Starvox became suspicious and reached out to Isaacs to follow up on the alleged contract.

“[t]hat is not close to my signature,” Isaacs said when presented with the fake signature. “Keira is also back in the U.K. with a new baby and under no circumstances does she want to do a play right now.”

Santos and his client are committed to seeing this case through, no matter how long it takes. The process has been long and tedious, especially with the mandatory change in venue from New York to Los Angeles, but it's about more than money for Santos and his client.

"It's rare in Los Angeles for people to be held accountable for making representations that aren't true," Santos tells The Blast. "We hope the result of this trial will show that you can't always say what you want and get away with it."

When asked about how long it is taking for this case to reach a trial court, the fiery attorney replied, "Justice delayed is not justice denied."

The attorney said he plans to make a parallel connection to the recent fraud case allegedly committed by actor Zachary Horwitz. Horwitz was indicted and charged by a federal grand jury with five counts of securities fraud, six counts of wire fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft in May 2021. Similarly, he allegedly lied to investors to secure $690 million in loans to his film company, 1inMM Capital. Santos hopes his case and the Horwitz case will deter people from making false grandiose claims in the future.

The defendant, Mr. Reid, offered to settle for the amount of $8,840 but was not an amount the plaintiffs are willing to accept. The case is set for a non-jury trial with Judge Terry Green on September 20th. However, the chances are that the defendants will opt to settle out of court before that date. While alleged as part of the complaint, the claims relating to Cyrus and Oldman are not going to be litigated because they were settled.

After Knightley's agent's autograph was allegedly proven to be fake, Ross reached out to the other celebrities' representatives that he tried to lockdown. Pacino's agent, Barry Navidi, said that the two-time Tony Award winner would not even consider doing a new project and only does plays that he's done before.

“Al does not do … plays unless it's [a] play that he [has] already done,” Navidi said while confirming the actor only "repeats the plays he has done in the last 30 years."

The case is headed to trial on September 20th... unless the defendants wise up and settle the case ahead of time.