His mistake was not setting aside 20% to buy off politicians, bureaucrats, and members of the law enforcement communities. It always needs to be part of the business plan.
@@denniskowalski8442 Both political parties suck rather equally but in different ways . Very generally speaking the Dems want to give all your tax dollars to the special interests with maybe a little left over for the people . The Republicans want to give all your tax dollars to the military industrial complex and would rather shoot themselves in the head than give the people any help . The Dems pretend to care about the American people and the Republicans show their open disgust and contempt for the American people . Like the song says , " either way you look at it you lose " .
Good for him. I can't tell you how many times I've been scammed by film producers. It's not millions, but paying $15 a pop to see crap movies adds up quick.
I haven't been inside a movie theater in years. Also, have not paid a one-time/special fee to watch/rent a movie online. The only subscription services we have are Netflix (with DVD plan) and Amazon Prime; there is so much "stuff" to watch, we can wait for current movies/series to eventually become no-additional-cost online.
Worked at a Hollywood production company for about a year, and let me tell you, they don't follow GAAP. It's extremely common for directors to pass slush funds around, take in money for one project, move most of it over to another project. Fly their buddies around on an unrelated project's tab or rent high dollar properties for a premium to effectively launder money from one project to a buddy's bank account. They are so reckless and open about it, they even talk about it in front of a low level functionary like me. These are private companies, so they don't have to disclose their finances beyond any terms they agree to with their investors, and these directors abuse that to the max. If the auditors ever land in Hollywood, they are going to dismantle that town.
You get to keep the watches with the watch subscription service's. My mom was drunk on her computer a few years ago and somehow got herself wrapped up into one, she had a hell of a time trying to cancel it.
Actors are complicated people, which I know having been one and having grown up with many. Now, when you pretend to be somebody else, some people call it lying, and some people call it acting. In any case, ponzi schemes are illegal. But I would think an actor has the right kind of skills to try it out.
Yes, of course you know the word "Actor" is Greek for "liar".....I grew up around it too (not too closely)......here is my conclusion, actors promote only themselves..best example, they are not screamingly liberal. The ones that go along and many who promote Left are lying ( its a market scheme, to improve and insulate their careers)!
@@stevelehto Peloton makes a fitness machine to help just such an affliction. They have patented a 6 inch rod to which an active up and down motion applied by the hand seems to relieve the stress. Many subscribers have rejoiced and say the instructors are experts in using the pole too.
I actually liked the movie "Fury." I thought that the tank fighting scenes were fascinatingly brutal (if not entirely accurate--I wouldn't know). In fact, I liked all of Brad Pitt's World War II movies, as well as the WWIII movie with the zombies...
Sounds like a con-game to me, but then again everyone's trying to switch over to the Continuous Pay Plan (a.k.a. subscriptions) so that no one owns anything, is happy to pay for their rental costs, and everything breaks faster too... 🙄👎
They have subscription services for just about everything. I've seen them for watches, clothing for men and women, ties, and I'm certain there are plenty more that I don't know about.
Is it weird that I have limited sympathy for those who allow their greed to cost them money? And simultaneously I applaud when the crooks who took the money -- because of THEIR greed -- get caught and punished... Perhaps it is unfortunate that we cannot punish every greedy act so people would learn that greed is usually expensive to someone and often harmful to us all.
@@byronwatkins2565 I wasn’t suggesting you personally were doing anything, but that the “American Dream” is widely celebrated. In reality the necessity to climb the ladder is underpinned with a dearth of social supports. For those who don’t naturally have “what-it-takes” there are two paths: fall between the cracks, or do *whatever* it takes. Simpler to model a more caring society than to punish all those who can’t fit the moral model.
@@markstevens1729 Once again, neither you nor I can control what others care about. Politically we do have some control over what acts result in punishment. A similar system to reward other acts could probably double the effectiveness... But we seem to disagree about what constitutes "the American Dream;" though we have the freedom to pursue our own happiness (ideally with the fewest possible restrictions), we have NO assurance of achieving it.
People keep falling for these schemes because of greed. Not thinking about what is possible or probable, but what they think they might get. Being practical and logical is the enemy of scams.
The watch service is just a slightly better scam. You pay them a monthly fee and each month they send you a new watch. There are normally different levels of the service. The more you pay each month, the better watch you are sent.
He could do what Zero Mostel & Gene Wilder in ‘The Producers’ did after being sent to prison;. Mostel’s character was choreographing a musical & Wilder’s character was still scamming money....
He played an SS Officer in ‘Fury’, also appeared in a bunch of no name movies.Found this on IMDb.com:Played football for Indiana University until an injury ended his NFL dreams. After graduating he entered the Doctoral program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.’ Also: ‘Actor and movie investor Zachary Horwitz, who is sometimes credited as Zach Avery, was arrested Tuesday on charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme that swindled investors out of $227 million. Horwitz, 34, was taken into custody by special agents with the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported. Horwitz claimed investors' money would be used for buying rights to films that HBO and Netflix had signed on to distribute internationally, particularly in Latin America. Horwitz appeared Tuesday in United States District Court on a charge of wire fraud, which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. [Variety, April 2021].’
Back in the 1950s in the UK there was a casino betting scheme widely advertised, even as a teenager, I could see the rate of return promised was ridiculously high and obviously not sustainable. It has always been my first thought when seeing high rates of return promised, is why is the promoter not keeping it to themselves and enjoying all that income they claimed was there for the having.
A co-worker tried to get me to fund a ponzi, I told him this reminds me of an "American Greed" episode. Asked him if he finds people at work dumb enough to fall for his scam. That seem to take care of his pitch.
If he gives a million in ill-gotten gains to pay his bail, does he have to pay that back to the victims if found guilty? Or does the government just claim it?
Steve, you're are the least pretentious smart guy I've ever encountered. I listen to you every day. I just want to say I love your channel and I appreciate what you do. You always got the interesting stories and insights. Keep doing what you are doing pal!
The saying, "There's a sucker is born every minute" needs to be "There's a perpetrator born every minute." Fault the perpetrator not the victim. If it sounds too good to be true, consider that it is.
Despite the modern notion that the victim is never to be criticized, oftentimes victims carry blame in becoming victims. Park your car in a bad neighborhood and the outcome is easy to anticipate. The same applies in a Ponzi scheme. It doesn't diminish the fault of the perpetrator to recognize the victims role in getting themselves into that situation.
@@siggyincr7447 Social progress dictates the perpetrator has the right to their chosen occupation, unless the victim is one of the social progressives. Otherwise it is the victim's fault they had the act committed on them. This is a bastardization of simple logic.
i mean, what's the quality of these watches? if you're getting a patek or a rolex every month, then hell yeah, sign me up. somehow methinks that's not the case, though 😁
A watch subscription service for those, like Chance the Gardner in the movie Being There, who can honestly say, "I like to watch." For a subscription, they get to watch. I have no information on what they watch.
You should not bad mouth this actor...I mean he played really well the role of a crook. And with minimal spending he grossed almost 1 billion dollars. I'd say he's a fucking legend in terms of acting. Movies that spend hundred of millions with many many actors and all sort of effects have grossed less than this single actor that didn't need any extensive crews and equipment to pull it off. If he had recorded everything, i'd say he could even get away with it, because he was doing a movie, and here it is, maybe even contact netflix and hbo to distribute it. Then he would become the most paid actor for a single movie 690 millions dollars ^_^ And the movie might flop. :))
There is a line I've always liked from a movie called The Flim Flam Man- starring George C Scott. "You can't cheat an honest man." Of course this is not completely true but it is true enough to give it some thought.
@@sammiller6631 You answer your phone, every time it rings? 90%, at least, are fraud calls. If you answer them, you will just get more. I know people who fell for the "Your grandson needs bail money scam". Good luck avoiding every scam.
@@sammiller6631 Really? Never heard of Madoff? Watch the movie Paper Moon, they cheat honest people throughout. You are in severe danger of being cheated if you think it can't happen to you.
Finally someone said this correctly. It's not just the scammer's fault for being a disgusting greedy pig. It's also on the person who got scammed because if they weren't equally disgusting and a greedy pig the scammer would be out of business. So both sides deserve exactly what they got coming to them. Don't be greedy, use your brain and all that glitters is not gold. Remember these three things and you won't get scammed.
I don't know if this was part of this scam, but there is a reasonably profitable business of selling crap films in markets outside US as filler. I think the premise is basically that networks can sell enough commercials even on schlock to turn a profit compared to other options (dead air, infomercials?). He could have done that and just by making enough films he could possibly get one hit script that someone actually wanted
I always wonder about taxes & these schemes: take a hypothetical $1mil invested at 35%APR going to $1.35 mil where the victim lets the 0.35 mil "profit/gain" be "reinvested." In a real stock fund, dividends, capital gains distributions, & interest from the underlying securities/cash are Federally taxable for the year distributed even though you reinvested it. Sure would suck paying Fed Tax on an imaginary 35% gain. I hope this scheme didn't create tax liabilities for the victims.
