Lights, camera, lawsuit! Pair allegedly faked Hollywood connections to scam investors

Two men have been accused of lying about their Hollywood connections to defraud investors of over $167,000, prosecutors said.

Avi Fogel, now known as Avi King, and Christos Chrestatos were indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Fogel was also charged with false writings to a government agency and an additional count of wire fraud.

Fogel, 47, of San Francisco is also known as Aaron Rose, Aaron Rothchild, and Aaron Gilman, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California said in a news release.

Fogel surrendered Nov. 7. Chrestatos, 45, of Long Island, New York, also known as Chris Silverman, was arrested Nov. 15.

The two are accused of claiming to be producers in the entertainment industry with close ties to “A-list” actors, directors, and other celebrities, prosecutors said.

Fogel allegedly met potential victims in a variety of places, such as dating websites and shared taxi rides. At various times, the men claimed to be producers at “Universal.”

The men lied to about their ability to arrange investment and product integration deals in feature films, documentaries, and television series, when they had no actual connection to the productions or to Universal, prosecutors said.

They allegedly created entities including Suzy and the Sock Dragon Media Group LLC, Rhinoheart Films LLC, and The Book Media Group LLC, to entice investors.

Fogel was also accused of submitting a fraudulent loan application to the U.S. Small Business Administration, ultimately receiving $52,400, according to prosecutors.