A Los Angeles man is facing federal charges for allegedly faking evidence in a $50 million lawsuit that accused Viacom executives of sexual assault, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Rovier Carrington, 32, was arrested Tuesday and charged in a criminal complaint filed in New York with one federal count of perjury, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said Wednesday. If convicted, Carrington faces a maximum of five years in prison.
Carrington filed the suit in New York in 2018, claiming former MTV executive Brian Graden and Brad Grey, the late CEO and chairman of Paramount Pictures, sexually exploited and then defrauded him by refusing to produce his reality television show.
The suit was thrown out when a judge determined Carrington had destroyed evidence and faked a set of 10 email chains he used to support his claims. The judge ordered him to pay more than $600,000 in attorney fees and costs to the defendants.
In one of the phony email chains, Carrington allegedly told a friend he was being threatened by one of the men while the other “thinks I’m supposed to constantly sleep with him for my projects.” Carrington claims he “was promised my series and reality show would make the studio a lot of money.”
According to prosecutors, Carrington submitted a statement falsely swearing that the emails were genuine.
Carrington describes himself on Instagram as an “inimitable multiracial writer in Beverly Hills.”