Legal Doc: Pollard Attorneys Caution Filmmaker

Justice4JP Release - February 19, 2004

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP
Attorneys and Counsellors at Law
101 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10178-0061

February 17, 2004

Mr. Simcha Jacobovici
Associated Producers
110 Spadina Ave., Suite 1001
Toronto, Canada M5V 2K4

Via Facsimile and Overnight Mail

Re: Jonathan Pollard

Dear Mr. Jacobovici:

It has come to our attention that you are planning a film about Jonathan Pollard.

We are Jonathan Pollard's attorneys in the United States. We are intimately familiar with the voluminous public court record in his case. We were therefore shocked to see a synopsis of your proposed film that begins with the accusation that Mr. Pollard was responsible, albeit indirectly, for the deaths of some forty U.S. agents stationed in the Eastern Bloc. You attribute these charges to unidentified "top American officials."

Nowhere in the public court record did the U.S. Government ever make such an accusation against Mr. Pollard. To the contrary, statements in the public court record make it quite clear that Mr. Pollard was not accused of being responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of any agents. There is no doubt that if the U.S. Government believed that Mr. Pollard was responsible for the deaths of U.S. agents, it would have made that allegation.

If in fact "top American officials" have directly provided you with this information, they are either lying to you or else they are engaging in criminal acts with your participation by providing you with classified information.

We suspect, however, that you have had no such contact with any "top American officials" but are merely repeating an allegation that has been floated in the media by unnamed persons hostile to Mr. Pollard. We are deeply troubled that you would give this accusation any credence, when the U.S. Government itself has not. A responsible journalist would focus on the court record, not on what an unnamed source has chosen to tell a reporter.

Even assuming your intention is to repudiate this accusation, we fail to understand why you would even address it. By doing so, you are legitimizing the accusation as a serious topic of debate.

Our investigation of the Jonathan Pollard case has uncovered evidence of serious government misconduct coupled with ineffective performance by Mr. Pollard's counsel. These are legitimate and compelling issues that would provide a basis for an effective documentary film.

Very truly yours,
Eliot Lauer
Jacques Semmelman

cc: Officers of Alliance Atlantis Communications:
     Michael MacMillan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Board of Directors
     Phyllis N. Yaffe, CEO, Broadcast Group
     Mark Rubinstein, President & Chief Operating Officer, Broadcast Group
     Edward A. Riley President, Distribution, Entertainment Group

cc: Board of Directors of Alliance Atlantis Communications:
     Ellis Jacob
     Allen Karp
     David J. Kassie
     Barry J. Reiter