How long will Zachary Horwitz be jailed? Actor receives long sentence for Ponzi scheme
Actor Zachary Horwitz received a long jail sentence on February 14, 2022, for his efforts to raise $650 million via a Ponzi scheme. The 'Fury' actor was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud in October 2021, coming after his arrest in April that year.
Despite only appearing in a handful of low-budget films, Horwitz (also known as Zach Avery) reportedly portrayed himself as a "Hollywood success story", and conned unsuspecting investors to invest in his scheme under the guise of acquiring "licensing rights to films that HBO and Netflix purportedly had agreed to distribute abroad." However, he never struck a deal with Netflix or HBO, but instead used the funds for his own lavish lifestyle.
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The news of Horwitz's sentencing comes just days after the Department of Justice finally made some headway in the 2016 Bitfinex hack, arresting and charging Heather Rhiannon Morgan and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein with money laundering related to the hack. The arrest also marks the DoJ's largest-ever financial seizure at a time when cryptocurrencies have become a popular source for scammers and hackers.
How long will Zachary Horwitz be jailed?
In a press release, the DoJ confirmed the actor would be sentenced to 240 months in federal prison. He will also have to pay out over $230 million in restitution to his victims, United States District Judge Mark C Scarsi ruled. It's unclear how he will do that, given that the only known major asset he has in his name is his $6 million Beverlywood mansion. It has been reported he also owns expensive cars and private jets, but their value is unknown. The rest of the money Horwitz raised was used to repay back other investors and splurged on trips to Las Vegas, and a celebrity interior designer.
It's unclear where Horwitz will serve his sentence, and if he will be eligible for parole at any time. An attorney for the 35-year-old could not be reached for comment. According to the DoJ, Horwitz ran the Ponzi scheme since 2014, and defrauded "five major groups of private investors." Overall, he raised $650 million from more than 250 individuals by using forged documents containing the signatures of Netflix and HBO employees. Amongst those he defrauded were three close college friends and their family members.
"Zachary Horwitz portrayed himself as a Hollywood success story... But, as his victims came to learn, (Horwitz) was not a successful businessman or Hollywood insider. He just played one in real life," the DoJ said in its press release. Before being arrested, he appeared in several low-budget movies such as 'The White Crow', 'Farming', and 'Trespassers'. He also has an uncredited role in the Bratt Pitt starring World War 2 movie 'Fury'.
