Spoiler alert: £200,000 fantasy film has run out of cash

Wednesday 18 June 2014

The Minister whose department handed over £200,000 to a convicted fraudster to film a Hollywood blockbuster in Jersey has told the States that the project has run out of money.

Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean told politicians yesterday that the production of “The Crystal Island”– which was said, after several delays, to be due to shoot in Jersey this summer - had been suspended.

In January, it emerged that background reports by the department and a Scrutiny panel had failed to uncover that the man behind the scheme had convictions for theft dating back to 1993 – for defrauding investors who thought their money was going into film projects - and that he had been disqualified from being a company director.

In the States yesterday, Senator Maclean said that he hoped to make a full statement on the film soon.

He said: “We have a script. It is in a position to proceed but it is not able to do so, we are advised at this stage, because of a lack of financing.

“Some of the financing has now been lost and they are working hard to put that back in place and to be able to progress it. We have requested from them the final report and once they have that to hand I will be able to make a statement of the exact position that we are in with regard to the film and the investment.”