citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message harmony gold usa type private company industry television programs founded los angeles california 1983 headquarters los angeles california usa key people frank agrama chairman jehan f. agrama president & ceo christy pawlak president & general counsel tommy yune president of animation steve yun webmaster products motion pictures television programs miniseries animation real estate revenue unknown net income unknown number of employees unknown website www.harmonygold.com harmony gold is a real estate developer motion picture distributor and production company based in los angeles . it was originally founded in 1983 by egyptian born frank agrama and is currently managed by his daughter jehan f. agrama . the company originally sold broadcast rights from paramount pictures to the mediaset media conglomerate . 1 it is best known as the distributor of the controversial shaka zulu miniseries and for various anime series notably robotech . the company worked closely with intersound a los angeles based post production recording studio managed by frank agrama s son ahmed agrama . they were responsible for partially dubbing dragon ball 2 magical princess minky momo and dr. slump before going out of business in 2006 . 3 in addition to its distribution and production interests harmony gold manages several real estate properties in the southern california area . they also operate a screening room in los angeles . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings in late 70s 1.2 the 1980s notable projects 1.2.1 shaka zulu 1983 1986 1.2.2 robotech 1985 1.3 late 1980s to early 2000s 1.4 2000s and beyond 2 legal problems 2.1 mediaset conviction 2.2 mediatrade acquittal 3 legal issues regarding macross copyright 4 titles 4.1 films 4.2 miniseries 4.3 flagship animation 4.4 other animation 4.5 documentary series and specials 4.6 series 5 alternative names mastervision 6 external links 7 references history edit beginnings in late 70s edit harmony gold s story began in the 1976 when frank agrama began selling broadcast rights from paramount pictures to his friend former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi s mediaset media company . in the late 1970s agrama while in a trade fair in cannes france met hong kong entrepreneurs paddy chan mei yiu and katherine hsu may chun . the three agreed to form a collaboration to trade movie rights internationally . chan set up hong kong based company harmony gold limited in 1979 while agrama set up agrama film enterprises on sunset boulevard in los angeles . 4 in 1983 agrama set up harmony gold usa . he later also became the los angeles commercial representative of another of chan s companies wiltshire trading . 5 the 1980s notable projects edit shaka zulu 1983 1986 edit in late 1983 agrama negotiated a deal with the south african broadcasting corporation sabc to distribute the controversial shaka zulu miniseries 6 in spite of the economic sanctions at the time . 7 the planned 10 episode miniseries was based on the story of the king of the zulu shaka reigned 1816 to 1828 and the writings of the british traders with whom he interacted . in the same year agrama founded harmony gold usa inc. throughout 1984 and 1985 the original budget of about 1.75 million escalated quickly to 12 million and the sabc justified the outlay to anticipated returns to be earned on the international market . frank agrama however noted the production was a calculated gamble . shaka zulu had in fact become the most expensive miniseries ever produced for television syndicate in the united states without pre commitment to network or operation time to date . to ensure its marketability harmony gold demanded that the well known white stars appeared in the first episode to satisfy us advertisers contrary to original script . 8 the sabc s involvement was also completely removed for its international release due to legal implications set by apartheid . the opening credits featured harmony gold inc. with frank agrama listed as associate producer . shaka zulu went on to become a massive success worldwide and has developed a cult following since its premiere in 1986 . it has been the most repeatedly screened miniseries ever shown on syndicated television in the united states . by 1992 it had been seen by over 350 million viewers . the series dislodged john marshall s the hunters and the later the gods must be crazy film series as the prime shaper of american perceptions of tribal history in southern africa . 9 despite its success the sabc failed to recoup the cost of their production due to unfair terms negotiated by harmony gold during production . 10 robotech 1985 edit in the mid 1980s harmony gold hired carl macek to adapt japanese animated programming for american broadcast release . macek originally wanted to adapt the super dimension fortress macross but was instead forced to combine three different anime series together which became named robotech the super dimension fortress macross super dimension cavalry southern cross genesis climber mospeada harmony gold s cited reasoning for combining these unrelated series was its decision to market macross for american weekday syndication television which required a minimum of 65 episodes at the time thirteen weeks at five episodes per week . macross and the two other series each had fewer episodes than required since they originally aired in japan as weekly series . the production was successful enough to merit a movie and a spin off robotech ii the sentinels . due to unforeseen economic circumstances production was cancelled . late 1980s to early 2000s edit in 1988 after the cancellation of robotech ii the sentinels a number of the staff were recruited to work at saban entertainment . carl macek along with his friend jerry beck went on to found streamline pictures . meanwhile harmony gold began moving away from production and began focusing more on film distribution dot com ventures and real estate . in 1998 harmony gold came under some scrutiny by several media executives for their role as a middleman selling paramount pictures distribution rights to mediaset . from 1999 to the early 2000s the company began reverting to film production once again . they partnered with netter digital and hired carl macek to write robotech 3000 a spinoff of the original series . a promotional trailer was screened at the 2000 fanimecon anime convention and was widely panned by fans . tatsunoko productions attempted to salvage the project to no avail . 2000s and beyond edit harmony gold began heavily pushing robotech first by releasing the series via a partnership with adv films in the us and manga entertainment in the uk . in 2006 they partnered with funimation entertainment to release robotech the shadow chronicles on home video . in august 2014 harmony gold released their first direct to video live action feature in over a decade the big goofy secret of hidden pines . directed by henri charr the film revolves around the comedic antics of two vacationers after they stumble upon bigfoot . legal problems edit harmony gold and its founder frank agrama have had an extensive history of legal troubles beginning in the early 2000s . italian investigators discovered and froze bank accounts in switzerland ; five belonging to agrama . according to another italian daily the corriere della sera the five accounts are said to contain sfr140 million 109.5 million . this early investigation led to two high profile trials . mediaset conviction edit on november 29 2006 federal agents raided the home and offices of longtime hollywood producer frank agrama in connection with italy s ongoing tax fraud embezzlement and false accounting investigation of its former prime minister silvio berlusconi . court documents revealed the recent search by fbi agents centered on italian allegations that the producer frank agrama berlusconi and others fraudulently inflated the price of television rights originally purchased by agrama so that millions of dollars in kickbacks could be paid to executives of berlusconi s mediaset media empire . 11 on october 26 2012 agrama was convicted after a lengthy trial involving the buying and selling of us film rights to the mediaset media company at inflated prices . 12 as his age exceeded 70 years he was exempted from direct imprisonment and served no actual jail time . according to the los angeles times prosecutors in milan italy charged agrama along with former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi and ten others in a trial over tax fraud embezzlement and false accounting at the mediaset media company on november 21 2006 . mediatrade acquittal edit in october 2011 paddy chan mei yiu and katherine hsu may chun along with nine others including frank agrama and pier silvio berlusconi son of silvio berlusconi were indicted by a milan court and charged with buying rights for us television series and movies then reselling them to broadcasting rights firm mediatrade a subsidiary of mediaset at inflated prices and laundering the money in a complex scheme . the four companies allegedly involved in this scheme were wiltshire trading harmony gold cs secretaries and loong po management . 13 according to prosecutors chan met agrama in cannes france in the late 1970s at a trade fair and they decided to form a partnership to trade movie rights internationally . chan organized a hong kong based harmony gold limited in 1979 records from the city s companies registry show . in the same year agrama organized agrama film enterprises on sunset boulevard in los angeles . four years later he set up harmony gold usa . he later also became the los angeles representative of another hong kong company established by chan wiltshire trading . prosecutors estimated the illicit profits between 1988 and 1999 amounted to us 170 million . earlier in 2005 swiss investigators froze 150 million francs hk 1.29 billion at a ubs branch in lugano belonging to harmony gold wiltshire trading and other companies . 14 on july 24 2014 variety reported that some of the charges have been dropped due to expiring statute of limitations . 15 an appeals hearing is set to take place january 20 2016 . 16 on january 18 2016 all charges against frank agrama and five other people were dropped . berlusconi and mediaset chairman fedele confalonieri were convicted and were sentenced to 13 months of imprisonment . 17 legal issues regarding macross copyright edit harmony gold via its license of robotech is the co copyright owner in the us for images of mecha from the component series of the show super dimension fortress macross super dimension cavalry southern cross and genesis climber mospeada . they have pursued multiple lawsuits against anyone using mecha which even vaguely resemble these designs . most notably many early designs used in battletech such as the warhammer valkyrie and marauder were licensed directly from the japanese producers of macross with the overlapping rights mistake not being realized for nearly a decade . harmony gold sued fasa and as a result these designs were removed from the game . fan outcry over the unseen has led to multiple attempts to negotiate deals allowing for resumed use of the designs but despite in one case a sourcebook going to press before being abruptly pulled no deal has ever been reached . as a result of the failed negotiations the producers of battletech ruled that any designs not developed in house would no longer be used in order to avoid future issues . harmony gold issued cease and desist orders against sites displaying images and trailers from the deceased video game mechwarrior due to one of the mechs used in the trailer being a warhammer . 18 the company claims that the images portray mechs that they own the rights to according to a legal settlement from 1996 . 19 the legal status of harmony gold