Randy and Evi Quaid Forfeit $1Million in Bail

Nov. 17, 2010— -- The legal difficulties for actor Randy Quaid and his wife Evi have become another Hollywood headline refrain since telling ABC's Good Morning America earlier this month that they were refugees running from "star whackers."

But court documents show financial problems began for the couple more than 10 years ago.

Quaid and his wife, Evi, failed to appear Tuesday for their arraignment in Santa Barbara, Calif., on felony vandalism charges. Both Randy and Evi Quaid were free on $500,000 bonds, and by failing to show up in court they have forfeited the $1 million bail money.

The Quaids, who have not appeared to at least four scheduled court dates, still have warrants out for their arrest, according to the Santa Barbara district attorney's office.

The Quaids' most recent legal case involved their arrest on Sept. 18 in Montecito, Calif. The couple was found in a guest house where they allegedly caused $5,000 in damages to the property.

While the Quaids claimed they owned the home since the 1990s, a representative of the current owner provided documentation to police that the owner purchased the property in 2007 from a man who bought it from the Quaids "several years earlier," according to a statement from the Santa Barbara Sherrif's department.

Four days after the Good Morning America interview, Quaid clarified to CBS News that he did not feel his life was threatened, but there was a conspiracy against he and his wife, and other celebrities.

"What I mean by star whacking…it's not killing somebody necessarily. It's creating a scandal or mystery around a celebrity that discredits them," Quaid said. He also said his "ex-attorney, ex-business manager, and estate planner," were a part of that conspiracy.

With the irony that only Hollywood could create, the Quaids' financial difficulties began in part by a movie they created in the late 1990s called "The Debtors," starring Randy Quaid, Michael Caine and Catherine McCormack and directed by Evi Quaid.

According to Richard Marshack, an attorney and trustee in the Quaids' bankruptcy proceedings that began in 2000, there were legal and creative disagreements involving the Quaids and the movie's financier, Charles Simonyi. Eventually, the Quaids, listed in their 2000 Los Angeles bankruptcy filing as Randall R. Quaid and Evzenya H. Quaid, accumulated the $3.5 million of debt, with listed assets of $3.4 million in personal property. Calls to the Quaids' attorneys were not immediately returned.