Zach Avery Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison Over Fake Netflix HBO Deals

Netflix is one of the most popular and largest streaming service right now. It has more than 201 million subscribers. It produces a lot of original content which consist TV series and movies. Recently a Hollywood actor was arrested and sentenced with 20 years in prison for selling fake licensing rights to Netflix.

Zachary J. Horwitz, an actor who also goes by the stage name Zach Avery. He has been formally sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. He orchestrated an elaborate Ponzi scheme that raised $650 million in bogus licensing deals with Netflix and as well as HBO.

Zach Avery is best known for his co starring role in Hell is Where the Home Is. The film was produced by his company 1inMM Capital LLC. Upon his arrest back in April 2021 prosecutors accused Avery of collecting hundreds of millions in loans for this film company from 2014 to 2019.

Horwitz relied on his personal relationships and word-of-mouth referrals to secure investors. He told them that he had experience in the media content distribution industry. “Defendant Zachary Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story” prosecutors said in a court affidavit. “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” NYPost reports.

When investors began to complain, prosecutors said Horwitz used the names of actual HBO and Netflix employees to send fake emails and text messages to reassure investors that their payments would be delivered since they were on the verge of closing distribution deals. There is still no word on whether or not any of his immediate family members had any knowledge or involvement in the ordeal. It should be noted that a few of his relatives were victims of this scheme.

In addition to his 20-year sentence, Avery has been ordered to pay back more than $230.3 million.