newhiphopnews

A small-time Los Angeles-based actor was arrested on Tuesday by the FBI for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme in which he lied to investors about the success of his film distribution company. 

Zachary Horwitz, sometimes professionally known as Zach Avery, is accused of cheating investors out of $227 million and using most of the funds for himself, including purchasing a $6 million Beverlywood home.

Horwitz has appeared in several low-budget movies such as the horror film The Devil Below.

David McNew/Getty Images

Horwitz allegedly enticed the investors by falsely claiming his company, 1inMM Capital LLC, had film licensing deals with Netflix, HBO, and other platforms. His promotional materials claimed the company offered “safe” investments because “we receive confirmation from each of our outputs indicating their desire to acquire the rights to any title we purchase PRIOR to us releasing funds for the film.”

Horwitz provided investors with fake licensing and distribution agreements with Netflix and HBO which contained forged and fictional signatures, according to the prosecutors. Representatives for Netflix and HBO denied that they have engaged in any business with Horwitz or his company, according to the affidavit.

He also told investors his company distributed 52 films in South America, Africa, and Australia, according to court records obtained by the paper, and gifted his funders bottles of pricey Johnny Walker Blue Label scotch.

The actor owes investors roughly $227 million — defaulting on 160 payments to them since 2019, the report said, according to the FBI.

He is charged with wire fraud, which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. At his Tuesday arraignment, Horwitz was released on a $1 million bond.

[via]

If you’ve ever uploaded or published anything on the internet, then you know the dread when you realize a mistake was made. With pictures, most people just delete their unfortunate look and move on, but for the Kardashian-Jenners, it becomes a full-blown investigative moment. Days ago, a bikini photo of Khloé Kardashian appeared online and since that time, it’s reported that the reality star’s team has been working overtime in order to get it scrubbed from the web. That seems like a near-impossible feat considering screenshots are plentiful, but that hasn’t stopped Khloé from trying her best.

According to Page Six, Kardashian’s camp called the unedited photo “beautiful” but stated that it was shared without Khloé’s consent. “The color edited photo was taken of Khloé during a private family gathering and posted to social media without permission by mistake by an assistant,” Tracy Romulus, chief marketing officer for KKW Brands, reportedly said in a statement.

“Khloé looks beautiful but it is within the right of the copyright owner to not want an image not intended to be published taken down.” The internet, however, remains defiant and it’s rumored that some users have been locked out of their social media pages for posting the image. Others have complained that Twitter has kept them from accessing their accounts and some have allegedly received legal notices to remove the image. This hasn’t stopped users from reacting accordingly. Check out a few responses to the controversy below.

[via]

Regardless of what someone may think of Soulja Boy, one thing he’s going to do is create a wave. Soulja is deserving of his roses as he was one of, if not credited as the first rapper who trolled the internet and went viral, so it’s unsurprising that he’s topping the charts over on TikTok. Weeks ago, he unleashed his “She Make It Clap” single and it quickly became the next big thing on the social media platform. In true Soulja fashion, he’s taken to Twitter to brag about his success and declare that it’s time for a Soulja Boy takeover.

Marcus Ingram / Stringer / Getty Images

“I really freestyled she make it clap on twitch then dropped it as a real song and it went viral, #1 on tiktok and I got like 5deals from it im goated bro no kizzy,” tweeted the rapper. “And I see these rappers copying my tiktok wave they think they slick y’all wasn’t doing this last month lmao I go #1 and here they come.”

“My song is doing better than rappers on a major level with marketing budgets let that sink in,” he added. “F*ck that sh*t I’m finna sign and take over the whole industry again that’s what they scared of can’t hold me back it’s up and stuck watch this! N*ggaz wasn’t saying stay independent last month! What’s the difference now!!!!”

After The Shade Room reposted his tweets, Soulja added a few more thoughts in the comments. “#1 no label. 7 deals on the table. Stop playing,” he said. “What y’all think? Sign or stay independent?” Do you think Soulja Boy is poised for a takeover? Check out “She Make It Clap” below.

She’s spent nearly two decades in the spotlight so Keke Palmer knows the ins and outs of being a child star-turned-adult. At 27-years-old, Keke has accomplished more in her career than veterans twice her age, and with each new project, she sets a new standard for not only herself but those who will follow in her footsteps. We’ve all bore witness to the pitfalls of child stardom and somehow, Palmer has been able to avoid scandal. In her recent cover feature with InStyle, the actress details her experience with growing up under the pressures of Hollywood as a kid.

“At a young age, as a child [in the] entertainer world, your emotions are always the last thhttps://www.hotnewhiphop.com/keke-palmer-defends-admiration-of-tyler-perry-blasts-social-media-critics-news.118692.htmling that people care about. I think you get really quickly into being a people-pleaser and trying to be everything that everybody wants you to be,” said Palmer. “I think in a lot of that, you end up being misunderstood.”

“I’ve fought a lot of that most of my adult life, and I’m still new into my adult life,” she added. “And I think that’s something that I work towards every day is to not worry about people not understanding me, because I understand myself.” Keke said she prefers being alone because “I actually like me” and just because she’s nice doesn’t mean she has some sort of issue with herself.

Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty Images

“Actually, no. It’s y’all not knowing what y’all want and projecting that on me that’s giving me the stress,” said Palmer. “Me, on my own, in my own room, I’m happy as hell… I had to really come to that understanding that success is what you make it and what you design it to be. Everybody is not Beyoncé, and that’s alright. That doesn’t mean that you’re not amazing because if you’re not Beyoncé, maybe you are Norah Jones.”

Listen to Keke chat with Laura Brown for InStyle below and check out a few shots from her cover feature.

The allegations being slung by Dr. Dre and his estranged wife Nicole Young continue. It was last year when it was first reported that the Aftermath mogul and his wife of 25 years decided to split, and since the beginning, the billion-dollar divorce has made headlines. Young has accused her husband of carrying on multiple affairs and early on, she requested $2 million in temporary spousal support. Soon, Nicole returned with reported accusations that she endured domestic violence during her marriage, but Dre has denied the claims.

Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty Images

According to TMZ, Dr. Dre’s legal team has filed new paperwork that shows he has denied the allegation of abuse. He also reportedly accused his wife of creating the abuse narrative in an effort to receive more money in the divorce and alleges she never brought it up until she realized that their prenuptial agreement was still in place.

The court documents reportedly call the domestic violence accusations “appalling” and Dre denies Nicole’s claims that he abused her the night before their wedding. Nicole has also asserted that she was “forced” to sign the prenup, but the Rap mogul reportedly said that isn’t true. At the top of the year, Dr. Dre suffered a health scare when he was admitted to the hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm and TMZ reports that these proceedings have been “stressful” for him. During his recovery, Dre advanced $2 million to his wife.

[via]