LOS ANGELES— A film producer and his wife accused of bribing a Thai government official face new charges of illegally obtaining business contracts for their Beverly Hills firm, federal authorities announced Friday.

Gerald Green, 75, and his wife, Patricia Green, 52, were originally indicted in January on federal charges of bribing a former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand so they could manage the annual Bangkok International Film Festival.

A new indictment accuses them of paying $1.8 million in bribes to the official so they would be awarded a variety of lucrative business contracts that brought the Greens $14 million, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The couple has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the original indictment. The Greens are to be arraigned Oct. 14 on the new charges.

One of the contracts they received called for their firm to produce an "elite privilege card" that gave the buyer special privileges in Thailand such as being escorted through immigration and customs. Other contracts were to design a calendar, a book and a Web site.

Marilyn Bednarski, the attorney for Patricia Green, said the couple did not make any bribes.

"These are really hard working people who employed a lot of people and did a lot of work on these contracts," Bednarski said. "The citizens of Thailand got fabulous products. Their work was top notch."

A call to Gerald Green's attorney was not immediately returned.

The new indictment includes charges of bribery, 10 counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, seven money laundering counts, two counts of false subscription of tax returns and others.

The charges potentially bring a lengthy prison sentence, with each money laundering count alone carrying a maximum of 20 years.

Prosecutors allege the Greens attempted to cover up their bribery by using different business entities, some with phony addresses and telephone numbers. Prosecutors said the couple used the entities to conceal the money they were paid under the contracts.

Gerald Green's movie producer credits include "Rescue Dawn," a 2006 movie shot in Thailand that was directed by Werner Herzog and starred Christian Bale.

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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