A low-budget film actor was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of running a $ 227 million Ponzi scheme that asked investors for fake film licensing deals, federal prosecutors said.
Zachary Joseph Horwitz, whose screen name is Zach Avery, is charged with wire fraud, which, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, carries a legal maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. It was not immediately clear if Horwitz had a lawyer.
Prosecutors said Horwitz, 34, told investors that their money would be used to buy film distribution rights, which would then be licensed to platforms such as HBO and Netflix.
Instead of using the funds to enter into distribution transactions, Horwitz allegedly operated his firm 1inMM Capital as a Ponzi scheme and used the money of victims to repay former investors and finance his own lifestyle, including the purchase of a $ 6 million home, prosecutors said.
Representatives of Netflix and HBO denied in an affidavit that their companies do business with Horwitz.
Horwitz is scheduled for May 13.
Horwitz’s recognition as an actor includes low-budget features such as ‘Trespassers’, ‘The Devil Below’ and ‘Last Moment of Clarity’.
The latter portrays Horwitz (Avery) as a driver in Paris who believes that an actress he saw in a movie could be his deceased girlfriend. He ‘has a pretty good lead’, wrote one reviewer. The film also starred Samara Weaving and Brian Cox.
Here is a trailer for the film that was allegedly released digitally in May 2020:
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