A final Liven scam documented by the SEC involved inflating reported box-office results for key productions. In late 1997, Livent opened Ragtime in a Los Angeles theater. The agreement with that theater allowed it close the show if weekly ticket sales fell below $500,000. Livent’s executives planned to open Ragtime on Broadway in January 1998. Those executives realized that if show fared poorly in Los Angeles, its Broadway opening could be jeopardized. To inflate Ragtime’s ticket sales during its Los Angeles run, Livent executives arranged to have two of the company’s vendors-the same individuals involved in the fraudulent kickback scheme alluded to previously-purchase several hundred thousand dollars of tickets to the show. Livent reimbursed the vendors for these ticket purchases and charged the payments to various fixed asset accounts.