Hollywood Ponzi Scheme Ripped-Off Actor’s College Buddies

Zachary Horwitz, the former actor allegedly behind a massive Hollywood Ponzi scheme, duped his old college friends and their families out of tens of millions of dollars, according to recently released court documents.

Zachary Horwitz, also known as Zach Avery, appearing in a film role.

Three of Horwitz’s buddies from Indiana University said he tricked them into providing him with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to fund bogus Latin American licensing deals with Netflix Inc. and HBO.

Their claims, outlined in legal documents released by U.S. prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, fit with a wider pattern of deception alleged in filings by Horwitz’s investors, who ...