A Hollywood producer claims a success true-crime documentary in regards to the leisure business’s greatest Ponzi scheme falsely painted him as a fraudster’s right-hand man – wrecking his profession and costing him a film venture.
Filmmaker Julio Hallivis, whose credit embrace Curvature and Trespassers, has sued Amazon, Vice Studios and “Tiger King” producer Rebecca Chaiklin over “Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Rip-off,” a three-part documentary inspecting convicted fraudster Zach Horwitz’s $650 million rip off.
Hallivis alleges the sequence falsely portrays him as Horwitz’s confederate and implies he knew in regards to the scheme, regardless of having no involvement within the fraud.
In keeping with the lawsuit, the fallout has already broken his profession. Hallivis claims that after the documentary premiered, a well known actor withdrew from a movie venture he was growing.
The sequence chronicles how Horwitz was sentenced to twenty years in federal jail in 2022 after orchestrating what prosecutors described as the biggest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood historical past.
Horwitz defrauded a whole bunch of buyers by way of his firm, 1inMM Capital, by falsely claiming he was buying worldwide movie distribution rights that will later be licensed to main streaming platforms together with Netflix and HBO.
As a substitute, prosecutors mentioned Horwitz used investor funds to repay earlier buyers, buy a $5.7 million mansion, constitution non-public jets and bankroll a lavish way of life.
In keeping with court docket filings, Hallivis argues that the documentary creates the impression he was concerned within the scheme by way of selective enhancing, images and commentary from folks related to the case.
One instance cited within the lawsuit facilities on images of Hallivis and Horwitz collectively throughout Golden Globes festivities in 2018 on the peak of Horwitz’s rise in Hollywood.
Within the documentary, a former Horwitz affiliate claims members of the group by no means really attended the star-studded Golden Globe Awards ceremony on the Beverly Hilton Lodge.
‘No one actually talks about this, however you may lease a lodge room, placed on a tuxedo and stroll round.
‘So far as the world is aware of, you have been on the Golden Globes,’ the affiliate says.
Hallivis argues the documentary improperly hyperlinks him to these claims by displaying images of him alongside Horwitz, creating the impression that he too was posing as an awards-show insider.
The lawsuit contends Hallivis was legitimately attending an HBO occasion related to the Golden Globes.
The producer additionally takes challenge with feedback made within the documentary by lawyer Alex Loftus, who represented buyers allegedly defrauded by Horwitz.
Whereas {a photograph} of Hallivis and Horwitz seems on display screen, Loftus is heard saying: ‘If Julio was spending all day and all night time with Zach Horwitz for months at a time, I don’t see how he won’t know that this was a fantasy.’
Hallivis claims the assertion falsely implies he knowingly participated within the fraud and is due to this fact defamatory.
He’s looking for compensatory, presumed and punitive damages, together with the elimination of the allegedly defamatory content material.
Representatives for Chaiklin, Amazon and Vice didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
“Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Rip-off” stays obtainable to stream on Amazon.
