A low-level actor in Hollywood was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for running a Ponzi scheme that raised $650 million, according to the Department of Justice.
Zach Horwitz, or as he’s better known in Hollywood, Zach Avery, defrauded people of $650 million that investors believed would be used to claim the licensing rights of films from HBO and Netflix that would be distributed abroad.
“Defendant Zachary Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum, according to a press release by the DOJ. “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.”
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All the paperwork investors signed were fake. Horowitz’s deception was successful for seven years and affected over 250 investors, including five major groups of private investors. His scheme ran from 2014 until he was caught in 2021. In October, Horwitz pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and admitted to running the Ponzi scheme, according to the DOJ. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and must pay $230 million to his victims.
Horwitz told the investors, many of whom were friends of his, that their funds would be used to purchase film distribution rights that would be sold to networks such as Netflix and HBO. The investors would sign 6 and 12 months promissory notes in exchange for the funds for his company, called 1inMM Capital. The notes guaranteed certain funds and the rights to specific films. At the end of the specified time, Horwitz was supposed to repay the note plus investment returns of 25%-45% for success of the “films,” the DOJ said.
However, he used the funds to pay back other investors and pocketed the rest. He never acquired the films he promised. In 2019, Horwitz began defaulting on his outstanding promissory notes.
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Horwitz, under the last name of Avery, has appeared in several films in the past five years, according to his IMDb page, including a leading role in the movie Last Moment of Clarity and a minor role in the Ralph Fiennes film The White Crow.
