Actor who faked HBO and Netflix deals as part of Hollywood Ponzi scheme sentenced to 20 years in prison
Zachary Horwitz scammed investors out of $650 million and promised foreign licensing rights
Aux News Netflix
After being found guilty of running a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme, small-time actor Zachary Horwitz (also known as Zachary Avery) has been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison for one count of securities fraud. As part of his sentencing, Horwitz must also pay $230.3 million in restitution to his victims, per the Associated Press.
In a press release, the Department of Justice said Horwitz “raised at least $650 million with bogus claims that investor money would be used to acquire licensing rights to films that HBO and Netflix purportedly had agreed to distribute abroad.”
“Defendant Zachary Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “He branded himself as an industry player, who, through his company… 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 in real life.”
Over the course of five years, Horwitz used his “company” 1inMM Capital to raise millions of dollars, promising to acquire the distribution rights to foreign films which would then be licensed to profitable streaming services such as HBO and Netflix. The press release states much of the money he raised came from close personal friends. He used the money to pay back earlier investors as well as fund his extravagant lifestyle, including the purchase of a $6 million Beverlywood residence, luxury cars, and travel by private jet.
In order to maintain the Ponzi scheme, the Department of Justice says Horwitz fabricated film license agreements from production companies and distribution agreements with HBO and Netflix. He also sent investors fabricated emails and text messages using the identities of actual employees of HBO and Netflix.
Under his stage name Zach Avery, Horwitz has appeared in films such as The Devil Below, Curvature, and The White Crow. His most recent role was in the 2021 Olivia Munn action film The Gateway.
36 Comments
Now there actually will be HBO and Netflix deals…. for the movie/series about him.
They should both be in on it and share the distribution.
As someone with ADHD, I always feel like I should begrudgingly give respect to people who successfully run Ponzi schemes. I can barely remember the order in which I need to cook dinner, much less have dozens or hundreds of people on the go at various points of a con.Having just watched The Tinder Swindler last night, I can’t wait for the eventual documentary about this.
He probably had a nice Excel spreadsheet, using INDEX/MATCH and none of the VLOOKUP bullshit.
I’m so glad you said that, there’s a culture war on my team and work between the INDEX/MATCH heroes and the VLOOKUP heathens.
INDEX/MATCH 4EVA
Didn’t they add XLOOKUP, which works basically the same as index/match?
IF Q1 THEN defraud Tom. IF Q2 THEN use Bill’s money to pay Tom back.
If you never tell a lie, you don’t have to remember anything
Nah, most days I can’t even remember my last name.
“Defendant Zachary Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story,”
I think this is what one might call a “red flag.”
a *completely unknown* success story LOL…even when I opened his IMDB page I didn’t recognize him or his movies.
I’ve seen Curvature. It’s the least good filmed out of the geometrically titled run of films, many of which came out within a few years of each other such as Circle (2015), Radius (2017). Triangle (2011) and Cube (1997).OK, Sphere (1998) was also somewhat of a dud, unfortunately.
now I hope someone in Hollywood has the stones to make Dodecahedron, just because I like saying “dodecahedron” LOL
That’s at least 30% of my enjoyment of the avant-garde black metal band Dodecahedron.
holy shit that band WAILS!! if that’s a human drummer and not a drum machine, his arms must be tired after a concert LOL
You’re telling me someone made up fake Netflix movies and people actually noticed they weren’t real? That doesn’t sound right.
No, but it does sound Bright.
The Scarening
My Cat’s a Fish
Store in a Cool Dry Place
Schindler’s Grocery List
Stop Or My Mom Will Gabagool!
Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Some Segways
Tangentially related, I like that this site exists (no, not IGN, I have no strong opinion on that).https://www.ign.com/articles/nestflix-fake-netflix-site-made-up-movies-tv-shows
This is jaw dropping in its audacity. I mean, he did know that he was scamming people out of millions of dollars, right? And just bought a house right there next to the people he was scamming? What was his endgame? There was a sell-by date on this scam, and there was no avoiding consequences. He could have just tried to do the thing he said he was doing and been fine, but he didn’t because….? Seems like more work to keep up the illusion. So strange.
lol lol I don’t get it, like why not bounce the country with all that capital when things started to look a little shaky.
It’s that Walter White thing, you have to have someone show you the giant pile of money and ask, “Is this enough?”
these guys tend not to be known for their decision-making or forethought LOL…it’s not a perfect analogy but think about Donny Dipshit, king of the mediocre con artists. I think they rely on people’s gullibility and unwillingness to call out suspected liars because it’s just too awkward, and some people are just so brazen about telling big lies that you can’t believe anyone could lie like that.
What’s not being mentioned is that this guy portrayed himself as family to a guy named Lew Horwitz, who is legendary in the indie film financing business. His name is trusted and carries a lot of weight. (Not that that’s an excuse for not verifying, obv.)
The most convincing conmen fool themselves before they fool anyone else. I’m sure that this guy had convinced himself that he was faking it until he was making it, and that soon he’d be have legitimate money to spare to pay everyone back with interest.
Having just read the article here about the NFT bros who thought they could illegally mint ‘Magic: The Gathering’ cards and then eventually buy out the brand, I think you may have hit the nail on the head here.
That was my thought. Actually doing this for real with honest intentions can’t be that much more difficult. He would need the networking skills cultivate the right contacts, and with all the people he managed to ingratiate himself to, it would seem this would not have been outside his abilities. Of course, maybe the actual process of securing distribution rights is far less lucrative than his material desires. My dad once said, “Never trust anyone who owns a private jet.”
He stole from rich people. Classic mistake.
but that’s where the money is!
Yeah, if he’d just stolen from the poor he’d be a senator (or at least a congressman) by now instead of in jail.
Paid better then acting I guess.
With this menace out of the picture, Hollywood can go back to making poor investments on its own.
this has a faint whiff of the Elizabeth Holmes story, and I for one can’t get enough of people conning rich, over-confident, gullible assholes out of their money
Yeah. I have all the sympathy for old people or naïve people who get conned because they thought they were helping someone out. But when people get conned because they used their fist of cash to make more fists of cash, wellllll . . .