{"id":417014,"date":"2026-07-29T20:37:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417014\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T20:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:37:20","slug":"producer-of-oscar-winning-films-accused-of-100m-ponzi-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417014\/","title":{"rendered":"Producer Of Oscar-Winning Films Accused Of $100M Ponzi Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    Federal prosecutors say Jason Cloth diverted money intended for film, entertainment and gaming ventures to other uses.<\/p>\n<p>Jul 29, 2026 11:25 AM PDT | Updated Jul 29, 2026 11:34 AM PDT<\/p>\n<p>BEVERLY HILLS, CA \u2014 A film producer and financier has been accused of defrauding investors of more than $100 million through purported film, entertainment and gaming projects, federal prosecutors announced.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Cloth, 60, of Beverly Hills, was charged with seven counts of wire fraud in an indictment unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-subscribe\">\n  <a class=\"article-subscribe-link\" href=\"https:\/\/patch.com\/california\/los-angeles\/subscribe?utm_source=amp&amp;utm_campaign=subscribe&amp;utm_medium=mobile&amp;utm_term=subscribe_in_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>Cloth was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles and made his initial appearance in federal court there, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>Cloth is credited on IMDb as a producer or executive producer on dozens of films, including prominent titles such as &#8220;Joker,&#8221; &#8220;House of Gucci,&#8221; &#8220;Licorice Pizza,&#8221; and &#8220;Ghostbusters: Afterlife.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to the indictment obtained by Patch, Cloth operated Canada-based Creative Wealth Media Finance Corp. and solicited investments from clients between 2019 and 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Those clients included an Illinois investment adviser whose money was purportedly intended for film and entertainment projects or a gaming entertainment investment platform, prosecutors said. Authorities have not said which specific projects Cloth offered as investment opportunities to clients.<\/p>\n<p>Cloth obtained more than $100 million from the adviser, the adviser&#8217;s clients and other investors by making false claims about the value and performance of their investments, prosecutors claim.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors allege Cloth knew he would use the money for other purposes, including the development of a Canadian real estate project.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment also accuses Cloth of operating a Ponzi scheme by using money from newer investors to repay earlier investors.<\/p>\n<p>Federal prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of at least $12.25 million connected to projects identified in the indictment.<\/p>\n<p>Each wire fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Cloth is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI is asking anyone who believes they were victimized through Creative Wealth Media Finance Corp. or another entity connected to Cloth to <a href=\"https:\/\/fbi.gov\/jasonclothvictims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">submit information here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The schemes may have involved film and entertainment projects, gaming investment platforms or other ventures, according to federal authorities.<\/p>\n<p>SEE ALSO:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal prosecutors say Jason Cloth diverted money intended for film, entertainment and gaming ventures to other uses. Jul&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-417014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}