An aspiring actor who moved from Indiana to Tinseltown starred in “Hollywood’s biggest Ponzi scheme” — raising over $690 million from family, friends and other investors by convincing them that he ran a successful movie licensing business.
Zachary Horwitz — who snagged bit parts under the stage name Zach Avery in movies starring Bryan Cox, Bruce Dern and Olivia Munn — claiming he was negotiating with HBO, Netflix and Sony to license the rights to Spanish-language movies, in accordance with court records.
In the course of the five-year scheme, Horwitz preyed on three of his closest college friends, who in turn persuaded their parents, grandparents, siblings and in-laws to raid their life savings.
Zachary Horwitz, 37, is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for running what has been dubbed “Hollywood’s biggest Ponzi scheme.” Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection
Horwitz, 37, promised investors returns in excess of 35%, and for a few years paid supposed returns on earlier investments using funds from recent investments, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
He pleaded guilty in 2021 to securities fraud and was sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2022.
His brazen plot involved securing loans from his friends as a way to finance deals for the rights to movies that might then be sold to large streaming services for a profit, in accordance with authorities.
Horwitz who used the illicit proceeds to live a seemingly idyllic life along with his wife and child in a $6 million mansion near Beverly Hills.
But investigators said that Horwitz simply fabricated the story to his family and friends by discovering old distribution contracts then copy-and-pasting them into Microsoft Word documents that were fake.
Horwitz would forge signatures of executives whose names he looked up on LinkedIn as a way to persuade investors to loan him money.
He would also show his investors fake text messages that he claimed were from Netflix and HBO executives
Horwitz has acted alongside such stars as Brian Cox and Olivia Munn. IFC Movies/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection
Jacob Wunderlin, who was a friend of Horwitz from their days as undergraduates at Indiana University in Bloomington, was persuaded to speculate $37,000 after Horwitz showed him a contract that made it appear as if he was selling Sony the rights to a Mexican rom-com called “Deseo.”
Inside 90 days, Wunderlin was repaid the principal plus a further $9,000 in profit, in accordance with The Recent Yorker magazine.
Horwitz also claimed to Wunderlin that his movie company, Rogue Black, was being backed by former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
He even showed Wunderlin an email that appeared to return from Schultz’s own account, The Recent Yorker reported.
Wunderlin was in awe of the returns to the purpose where he convinced his parents to place up half their retirement savings.
In 2022, Horwitz was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for orchestrating a $690M Ponzi scheme. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Horwitz’s friends said they were seeing returns upwards of 20% — which whetted their appetites much more and prompted them to loan him even more cash.
“We’re getting paid on time. Real money. Without fail,” Joseph deAlteris, one other college friend, told The Recent Yorker.
A few of Horwitz’s friends took out more loans to permit him to do more deals. They even mused about quitting their full-time jobs in finance to assist Horwitz grow his business.
DeAlteris convinced his widowed mother, who’s a retired physician’s assistant, to speculate $40,000. In a two-year period, Horwitz’s friends made a profit on some 27 fictitious movie deals, in accordance with The Recent Yorker.
Horwitz was capable of get away with the scheme for five years by covering his tracks, in accordance with investigators.
He hired a lady to impersonate an HBO executive who would then speak to his investors by phone as a way to answer questions they might have about prospective deals.
Horwitz acted in movies under his stage name, Zach Avery. He’s seen above within the 2020 film “Last Moment of Clarity.” Lionsgate
Horwitz also told investors to not contact the streaming platforms directly because he had signed nondisclosure agreements with them.
In keeping with prosecutors, Horwitz used the cash to pay for personal jet flights and yacht trips in addition to $605,000 for luxury cars that included a Mercedes-Benz and an Audi; $174,000 for party planners; a $54,600 for a “luxury watch subscription” service.
As an actor, Horwitz was starting to see modest success within the movie business. In 2020, he appeared in a supporting role alongside “Succession” star Cox within the film “Last Moment of Clarity.”
The following 12 months, he co-starred in “The Gateway” which featured Bruce Dern and Munn.
However the Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2020 when Horwitz ran out of investors to plow more cash into the fraud. When earlier investors began demanding their a reimbursement, Horwitz would delay, prompting them to threaten lawsuits.
Eventually, duped investors began contacting law enforcement, who launched an investigation.
Horwitz is seen right within the 2017 film “Curvature” with co-star Lyndsy Fonseca. Everett Collection / Everett Collection
One in every of those investors was Robert Henny, a screenwriter who told the federal judge who presided over Horwitz’s case that he lost $1.8 million within the scheme.
One other investor, a 64-year-old, said that he had to return out of retirement simply to make ends meet after losing $1.4 million.
“I cry on daily basis and have stopped seeing friends or family due to shame of this financial loss and have a now severe distrust of other human beings,” the unnamed investor told Los Angeles federal court on Feb. 14, 2022 — the day that Horwitz was sentenced to twenty years behind bars.
The mother of a 46-year-old special needs daughter said that she “won’t ever have the option to earn what has been taken from me and my daughter” but “the emotional damage…is even greater.”
Horwitz’s wife filed for divorce after his arrest.