Talk about a box office bomb. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that it obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief in an enforcement action against Los Angeles-based actor Zachary Horwitz and his company, 1inMM (one in a million) Capital, LLC.
The order came in connection with an alleged Ponzi scheme that raised over $690 million. Horwitz and 1inMM allegedly told investors that they were buying film rights, purportedly to resell them to Netflix and HBO. In fact, 1inMM actually had no business relationship with either company, according to the SEC.
Using the name Zach Avery, Horwitz has a number of IMDb acting credits, including the 2014 Brad Pitt movie Fury.
Horwitz allegedly showed investors fabricated agreements and emails regarding the purported deals with HBO and Netflix. The complaint alleges that Horwitz and 1inMM promised investors returns in excess of 35%, and for many years paid supposed returns on earlier investments using funds from new investments.
Trips to Vegas
The complaint further alleges that Horwitz misappropriated investor funds for his personal use, including the purchase of his multi-million-dollar home, trips to Las Vegas, and to pay a celebrity interior designer.
“We allege that Horwitz promised extremely high returns and made them seem plausible by invoking the names of two well-known entertainment companies and fabricating documents,” Michele Wein Layne, Director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office, said in a statement. “We obtained an asset freeze on an emergency basis to secure for the benefit of investors what remains of the money raised by Horwitz.”
The SEC’s complaint charges Horwitz and 1inMM with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. In addition to the asset freeze and other emergency relief granted by the Court, the complaint also seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against Horwitz and 1inMM. The Court set a hearing for April 19, 2021, to determine if the asset freeze should remain in force for the duration of the litigation.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
