Remember the 2009 movie “Not Forgotten” starring Simon Baker? Well six-dozen criminal charges were filed against its film director and an insurance agent who allegedly bilked more than $21 million from investors for the movie, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced today.
Dror Soref, 65, and Michelle Seward, 43, are charged with 56 counts of securities fraud, 15 counts of sale of unregistered securities and one count each of device, scheme or artifice to defraud a securities transaction, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The two pleaded not guilty and are due back in court Nov. 16, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require them to stand trial.
Seward allegedly gave presentations where potential investors were encouraged to invest their life savings or equity in their homes, according to Deputy District Attorney Renee Cartaya.
Investors bought unqualified, non-exempt securities to help raise money for the film, and were promised double-digit returns on investments that carried no risk, according to the prosecutor.
Soref and Seward are accused of using money from new investors to pay other investors, along with paying themselves and their employees, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The alleged Ponzi scheme ran from 2007 to 2010 and involved nearly 140 investors — most of whom were elderly, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Some of the alleged victims lost as much as $395,000, authorities said.
If convicted as charged, Soref and Seward face more than 75 years in prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Soref wrote and directed “Not Forgotten.”
