A Deutsche Bank media banker well known in Hollywood circles has claimed to have been abused by the Los Angeles Police Department, arguing that he was beaten during an altercation in May.
The executive, Brian Mulligan, has said that he has suffered a broken shoulder blade and numerous fractures after being detained by police in mid-May, according to news reports.
The police department has told news outlets that Mr. Mulligan, a former Hollywood executive turned investment banker, was showing erratic behavior on the night of May 15. Mr. Mulligan has claimed through a lawyer that he was illegally detained in a motel room by police officers who were trying to steal his money.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department told Bloomberg News this week that officers were responding to reports of a man trying to enter occupied cars in the city's Highland Park neighborhood, and more specifically at the drive-through of a Jack in the Box restaurant.
Acc ording to The Wall Street Journal, police determined that Mr. Mulligan wasn't under the influence of narcotics. Bloomberg reported that the banker told officers that he would be fine if he simply got some sleep. The responding officers noted that he was carrying an unusually large amount of money - reportedly some $5,000 in cash, which he said was customary on business trips.
Mr. Mulligan was subsequently detained after assuming a “fighting stance†and then charging police officers.
He has since filed a $50 million claim against the city, Bloomberg and The Journal reported, in what would be the first step toward a formal lawsuit.
The recent developments are an unusual mark on the record of Mr. Mulligan, a prominent banker charged with lining up financing for Hollywood movies. His previous jobs included serving as the chairman of Fox TV, a position he left in September 2001.
He was also formerly a co-chairman of Universal Pictures, according to a b iography on the Web site of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.
In one of his most significant accomplishments as a media deal maker, Mr. Mulligan helped sell Seagram to Vivendi.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 17, 2012
An earlier version of this article misstated the university affiliation of the Marshall School of Business. It is part of the University of Southern California, not the University of South Carolina.
