Movie producer behind 'Joker,' and 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' indicted in alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme
FILE-A general view of atmosphere seen at Warner Bros. Pictures JOKER premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)
Movie producer Jason Cloth, who financed the films "Joker," "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and others, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud charges tied to a $100 million Ponzi scheme.
The indictment against Cloth was unsealed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Chicago. Cloth was arrested in Los Angeles, where he made his first court appearance, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois told The Associated Press.
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Cloth is charged with seven counts of wire fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
According to The Associated Press, Cloth is also being asked to forfeit over $12 million. The FBI requested that anyone who thinks they might have been a victim contact the agency's Chicago office by filling out an online form.
Film producer indicted in multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme
Dig deeper:
Referencing the indictment, the AP noted that Jason Cloth is accused of soliciting money from investors, telling them the funds would be used for a movie or a video game platform. Instead, the indictment claims, he used the money for other projects like a Canadian real estate development and to pay off earlier investors.
Moreover, Cloth has also been named in multiple lawsuits from investors in recent years.
The AP reported that one of them is a class-action lawsuit alleging film-funding fraud in Chicago, a Florida lawsuit from an investor who accused Cloth's company of breaching contracts for entertainment loans, and a lawsuit from investors in New York that was later dismissed. Cloth has fought the allegations in Chicago and Florida, and those cases are pending.
And in 2025, the Ontario Securities Commission started an enforcement proceeding against Cloth and his organization, alleging that Cloth and his company raised over $500 million from investors for various movie and television projects, and then redirected $70 million of the money for other purposes like repaying earlier investors.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, which cites the indictment against Jason Cloth. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.