American actor, Zachary Horwitz, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for running a massive Ponzi scheme that raised at least $650 million from investors in phony Hollywood film licensing deals.
The 35-year-old was also ordered to repay more than $230.3 million.
According to Hollywood Reporters, the prosecutors alleged that from 2014 to 2019, Horwitz secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for his film company, 1inMM Capital LLC, by falsely claiming the money would be used to buy distribution rights to movies that would then be licensed for distribution to streaming platforms such as Netflix and HBO.
“Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story
“He branded himself as an industry player, who… leveraged his relationships with online streaming platforms like HBO and Netflix to sell them foreign film distribution rights at a steady premium.
“But, as his victims came to learn, (Horwitz) was not a successful businessman or Hollywood insider. He just played one,” prosecutors said, according to the Department of Justice.
By the time it all fell apart, more than $230 million had vanished.
He admitted security fraud in October, and acknowledged that he had never bought any film rights, or secured any distribution contracts.
It would be ‘difficult to conceive a white-collar crime more egregious,’ prosecutors said in a memo to the judge, noting he started his life of crime by swindling university friends, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“He began by betraying the trust of his own friends, people who lowered their guard because they could not possibly imagine that someone they had known for years would unflinchingly swindle them and their families out of their life savings,” they said.
