Avram C. Freedberg
Avram C. Freedberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | Avram Chaim Freedberg June 25, 1947 |
| Spouse | Rhoda Freedberg |
| Children | Jonathan Freedberg Arielle Freedberg |
Avram Chaim Freedberg (born June 25, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Broadway theatre producer, a direct marketer, and founder of National Collector's Mint. He founded Maximum Entertainment Productions LLC and has produced and invested in a number of Broadway shows.
Broadway
Freedberg's Broadway credits include Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Addams Family and Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking. One of his off-Broadway shows, Los Big Names, earned Outer Critic’s Circle and Dram Desk nominations.[1]
In 2006 and 2007 Freedberg's company Maximum Entertainment was the producer for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! during the Christmas season.[2][better source needed] The 2007 production was halted for seven days during the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike and managed to get back into performance by getting a special dispensation.
Obscenity charges
In 1988 he operated Consumer Marketing Group in Stamford, Connecticut and Dirty Dick's Dynamite Discount Den as a distributor of pornographic materials. After being tried for obscenity charges, Freedberg accepted a plea bargain to pay $600,000 and promise to never deal in sexually explicit materials again.[3][4] A United States District Judge ruled that he could not be prosecuted in two states simultaneously on obscenity charges.[5]
National Collectors Mint
In 1991 he founded the National Collectors Mint in Port Chester, New York. The company, through its online catalog and television advertisements, markets collectible and commemorative coins. In 2004, it began selling coins commemorating the September 11 attacks with silver purported to have been recovered from the World Trade Center. The coins, which it allegedly purported to be legal tender, are said to have been issued by the United States territory Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands which cannot issue legal tender.[6] After the company paid a $750,000 settlement to the FTC for repeatedly and fraudulently marketing the coins, senator Chuck Schumer stated, "This settlement will assure consumers that we, as a nation, will not tolerate such a despicable scam."[7]
References
- ^ "Who We Are". Maximum Entertainment Productions. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ Avram Freedberg - ibdb.com
- ^ Philip D. Harvey (2001). Government versus erotica. Prometheus Books.
- ^ Dan Barry (reporter) (October 2, 2004). "A Silver Coin, Wrapped in Plain Brown". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- ^ "Porno Prosecutions". Associated Press. November 24, 1993. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
- ^ "Five Pieces of Silver". The New York Times. October 2, 2004. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
- ^ "Schumer, Nadler Announce Crooked Marketer of Imitation Commemorative 9/11 Coins to Settle with Federal Trade Commission". Nadler.house.gov. Retrieved 16 September 2015.