Aspiring Actor Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Ponzi Scheme That Raised $650 Million in Fake Film Licensing Dea

A Los Angeles-area actor has been sentenced to 20 years in prison following a $650 million ponzi scheme involving licensing deals, USA Today reports.

Between 2014 to 2019, prosecutors say 35-year-old Zachary Horwitz used his film company 1inMM Capital LLC to amass money for distribution rights to movies that he said would then be licensed to the world’s biggest streaming services. He ultimately raised $650 million, and has since been ordered to pay back over $230.3 million.

Authorities say the scheme involved at least 200 investors, his friends included. Horwitz used the money to pay back early investors and buy a $6 million home, among other things, per prosecutors. The Securities and Exchange Commission claimed he used “fabricated email communications with representatives of HBO as well as false collections accounts allegedly showing funds available from HBO and Netflix for distribution.”

“We allege that Horwitz promised extremely high returns and made them seem plausible by invoking the names of two well-known entertainment companies and fabricating documents,” Michele Wein Layne, the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office director, said. “We obtained an asset freeze on an emergency basis to secure for the benefit of investors what remains of the money raised by Horwitz.”

He was arrested on April 6 and was released on $1 million bond, before pleading guilty in October to a federal charge of securities fraud.

An affidavit reads that Netflix and Hulu denied business involvement with the actor, whose credits included small roles in low-budget films. He has appeared in Trespassers and The White Crow, and has an uncredited role in Brad Pitt’s Fury.