The recent arrest of Peace Arch Entertainment CEO Gary Howsam has prompted his voluntary resignation from the executive suite and boardroom.

The Toronto-based company on Monday said the recent move to install company shareholder Jeff Sagansky as interim CEO has also forced a boardroom shuffle to ensure compliance with Ontario and U.S. securities regulators.

Howsam’s formal resignation follows Peace Arch placing him on administrative leave on Nov. 6, a day after he was arrested in Los Angeles by FBI agents for alleged bank fraud.

Howsam was scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday for a preliminary hearing. But that appearance was superceded by a grand jury last week indicting Howsam for one count of bank fraud and six counts of making false statements on a loan agreement. The grand jury indictment alleges Howsam hatched a ‘scheme to defraud’ Comerica Bank of California by faking contracts with international distributors to secure film financing for the 2001 film Going Back.

The indictment indicates the doctored contracts amounted to a $550,000 licence fee from France’s Television Francaise 1, another $850,000 from Tele-Munchen in Germany, $450,000 from Italy’s Eagle Pictures, $750,000 from Japan’s Gaga Media and $350,000 from Filmmax/Sogedasa in Spain.

The grand jury concluded that, ‘as defendant Howsam well knew, such contracts did not exist because they were fake distribution contracts to which the purported international distributors had not actually agreed.’

Howsam now faces formal arraignment on Dec. 3, at which time he will have a chance to enter a plea.

If he is tried and convicted on all seven counts against him — each carries a maximum 30 years jail term — the former Peace Arch CEO faces 210 years in a federal prison. Executives at Peace Arch were not available for comment at press time.

Under the shuffle, CFO Mara Di Pasquale has resigned from the Peace Arch board of directors. Ontario and U.S. regulations require that a majority of board members must be independent, but the balance tipped when Sagansky stepped up as interim CEO. Di Pasquale will continue as CFO and as an observer on the board, says Peace Arch.