Filmmaker pleads not guilty to state fraud, theft charges

DES MOINES - A California filmmaker accused of improperly securing state tax credits to buy a luxury vehicle in 2008 told an Iowa judge Tuesday the issue is an accounting dispute that should be resolved by arbitration, not via a criminal proceeding, to save both him and the state money and time.

Donald Borchers, 55, a Beverly Hills producer/director who represented himself at Tuesday's arraignment, told Polk County District Judge Glenn E. Pille that the two felony counts brought against him by the Iowa Attorney General's Office are based on “erroneous” information, and that “extraordinarily biased” news accounts of his participation in the now-suspended Iowa film tax credit program have slanted the facts and make it difficult to find an impartial jury.

“I don't know what the fraud was and I didn't steal anything,” Borchers told the judge before pleading not guilty to one count of first-degree theft and one count of first-degree-fraudulent practices – class C offenses that each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 upon conviction.

“That's your contention and that's why we have trials,” Pille told the producer/director and owner of post-production vendor Planet Productions Inc. before setting a preliminary court hearing for Dec. 15 and a Jan. 23 trial date

According to court documents, prosecutors allege Borchers submitted inflated cost claims for his 2008 remake of the film “Children of the Corn,” and accepted state tax credits “to which he had no right” based on those expense claims.