Auditor Suspects Insider Dealing at Planet Hollywood

ORLANDO-Once the owner or controller of an estimated 2.5 million sf of prime retail space at 80 worldwide sites, Orlando-based Planet Hollywood International Inc. is down to an estimated 300,000 sf today in 10 locations, as new charges swirl of possible insider dealings connected to the company’s two Chapter 11 filings in the last three years.

Special auditor Soneet Kapila, president, Kapila & Co., Fort Lauderdale, FL has filed his 57-page, two-month report with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur B. Briskman who approved the investigation at the request of unsecured creditors.

Robert I. Earl, Planet’s $600,000-a-year chairman, denies any wrongdoing and says through his Orlando lawyer, R. Scott Shuker, any investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission will clear the 11-year-old company as well.