Actor and film investor Zachary Horwitz, sometimes recognized as Zach Avery, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $ 227 million.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has arrested 34-year-old Horwitz by FBI agents. Horwitz claims that investors’ money will be used to buy rights to movies that HBO and Netflix have signed to distribute internationally, especially in Latin America.
Horwitz appeared in U.S. District Court on Tuesday on a charge of wire fraud, which carries a legal maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The complaint alleges that Horwitz asked investors for his company 1inMM Capital LLC and said he would buy the local distribution rights to movies and then license the rights to platforms including Netflix and HBO. His promotional material claims that the company offered ‘safe’ investments because ‘we receive confirmation of each of our outputs indicating that they want to obtain the rights for each title we purchase FOR us to release funds for the film.’
Prosecutors say he used the victims’ funds to repay investors earlier and buy a $ 6 million home in Beverlywood.
Prosecutors allege Horwitz provided investors with fake license and distribution agreements with Netflix and HBO that contained forged and fictitious signatures. Representatives of Netflix and HBO denied, according to the affidavit, that they had done any business with Horwitz or his company.
The distribution documents for films such as ‘Bitter Harvest’, ‘Active Measures’ and ‘Divide and Conquer’ were allegedly signed by companies, including Sierra / Affinity. Sierra / Affinity also said in the affidavit that he had no business relationship with Horwitz.
The company’s annual report also featured dozens of films in its ‘library’, such as ‘Kickboxer’ by Jean-Claude Van Damme and ‘The Spectacular Now’ by James Ponsoldt.
Horwitz has appeared in several low-budget films, such as the horror film “The Devil Below.”
A U.S. magistrate’s judge has ruled that Horwitz’s mortgage is $ 1 million, with a May 13 ruling.