Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ROVIER CARRINGTON was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed yesterday with perjury. CARRINGTON was arrested yesterday and presented in the Central District of California.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, Rovier Carrington faked evidence to support a $50 million lawsuit in the Southern District of New York making extremely serious allegations, and then lied about faking that evidence under penalty of perjury. Now he will return to the Southern District of New York—this time to face criminal charges.”
According to the allegations contained in the Complaint[1] unsealed yesterday in Manhattan federal court:
Between at least June 2018 and July 2018, CARRINGTON committed perjury in connection with a civil lawsuit (the “Civil Case”) filed in the Southern District of New York. In the Civil Case, CARRINGTON sued Hollywood executives alleging that the executives had sexually assaulted him, and that they had defrauded him in connection with a decision to refuse to produce CARRINGTON’s reality television program. CARRINGTON sought damages of $50 million in the Civil Case.
In support of his allegations in the Civil Case, CARRINGTON included as exhibits to an amended complaint ten email chains that included the following purported exchanges:
Counterparty Account-1: Trend my man. You have to obey [third party] if you plan on continuing. [Executive-1] has ruined your chances after that Harvey [Weinstein] shit. I understand screwing these Hollywood fucks is tough but it’s that Hollywood shit man.
Executive-2: Babe, all I can think about is pounding you like I did when you were a boy. Daddy owns you. My boy… 🙂
But those email chains were faked. In response to an investigation by the District Court overseeing the Civil Case, CARRINGTON was unable to produce the original versions of any of the email chains. The versions of the email chains attached to the amended complaint could also not be located in the email accounts belonging to others that had allegedly sent and received the emails chains. Moreover, law enforcement determined that versions of two of the email chains attached to the amended complaint did in fact exist in the email accounts belonging to others, although the versions attached to the amended complaint had been substantially altered by CARRINGTON in order to support his allegations in the Civil Case.
CARRINGTON deleted the contents of one of his email accounts that allegedly contained some of the email chains the day after he filed the amended complaint. He deleted the contents of another of his email accounts that allegedly contained some of the email chains two months later, in violation of a preservation order that the District Court had issued in the Civil Case.
CARRINGTON submitted a statement swearing under penalty of perjury that the email chains in the amended complaint had not been faked or altered.
CARRINGTON, 32, Los Angeles, California, is charged with one count of perjury, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of the Southern District of New York. Ms. Strauss also thanked the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California for their assistance in the case, and thanked the United States Marshals Service for its assistance in the apprehension of CARRINGTON.
The case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Mead is in charge of the prosecution.
The charges in the Complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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