The Hollywood Mogul Con

In 2018, Zach Horowitz, a 28-year-old actor working under the stage name "Zach Avery," unleashed a Ponzi scheme on the film industry. He raised more than $690 million from "five principal investors" using legally binding debt agreements in the form of promissory notes. Horowitz started soliciting money from investors on behalf of 1inMM Productions, his film production company, which was backed by fake distribution deals and the fake rights agreements. He borrowed money for six months to a year promising a return of up to 40 percent on the investment, telling investors the production intended to use their money to secure the distribution rights to various films in regional geographies and then sell those rights to streamers such as Netflix and HBO. The con was up when F.B.I. agents arrested Horowitz at his $5.7 million home in Beverlywood. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with securities fraud, seeking an immediate freeze of his assets and the return of "ill-gotten gains."