A Los Angeles actor who orchestrated an elaborate Ponzi scheme that raked in $650 million in bogus licensing deals with HBO and Netflix has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In addition to the prison sentence, US District Judge Mark Scarsey ordered Zachary Joseph Horowitz, 35, on Monday to pay regarding $230 million in compensation to more than 250 investors who financed his 1inMM Capital business.
Prosecutors said Horowitz would use loans from one group of investors to pay off the other, while taking millions of dollars to pay for his lavish lifestyle.
Some of his accomplishments include $700,000 for a famous interior designer to remodel his $5.7 million home in Beaverwood, California.
Horowitz relied on his personal relationships and “verbal” references to secure investors, telling them he had experience in the media content distribution industry.
“Defendant Zachary Horowitz presented himself as a Hollywood success story,” prosecutors said in an affidavit. “He has described himself as an industry player who, through his company…has leveraged his links with online streaming platforms like HBO and Netflix to sell them foreign film distribution rights at a fixed premium…but , as his victims learned, [Horwitz] He was not a successful businessman nor was he familiar with Hollywood. He has only played one in real life.
Horowitz was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2021. With five counts of securities fraud, six counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Horowitz also used some of the money to finance the low-budget movies he appeared in, including “The Gate” and “The White Raven,” according to court documents.
From March 2014 to approximately December 2019, the scammer raised millions of dollars from investors and promised that he would use their money to purchase the licensing rights to hundreds of movies that would be resold to HBO, Netflix and other overseas platforms, especially in Latin America. , the plaintiffs said.
According to the criminal complaint, “Horowitz showed investors various fictitious documents to substantiate his alleged deals with HBO and Netflix, including several bogus movie distribution deals.”
By 2019, 1inMM Capital began defaulting on its outstanding promissory notes, which guarantee payment on a specific due date. Investors were told they would receive 25 to 45 percent returns on their investment.
As investors began filing a complaint, prosecutors said Horowitz used the names of real HBO and Netflix employees to send bogus emails and text messages to reassure investors that their payments would be delivered because they were “regarding” to pay. close distribution agreements.
