Colony Capital and Miramax exec Richard Nanula takes leave from firms

Miramax Chairman Richard Nanula has taken a leave of absence from the Santa Monica independent film studio and from its co-owner Colony Capital, where he is also a principal.

The disclosure of Nanula’s departure Wednesday came after two websites recently published photos of a man identified as Nanula having sex with an adult film actress. One of the sites has since removed the photos.

A spokeswoman for Colony Capital declined to discuss the posted images or when Nanula might return.

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“Richard has taken a leave of absence from Colony and Miramax for personal reasons,� the spokeswoman said.

Nanula could not be reached for comment. A former finance chief at Walt Disney Co., he joined Colony in 2008. Nanula worked at Disney from 1986 to 1998. He had a stint as finance chief at Amgen Inc. before working at Colony.

Colony was part of a group of investors that acquired Miramax from Disney in December 2010 for $663 million. Another of those investors, construction magnate Ron Tutor, sold his interest in Miramax in January.

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