The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.9 What Sketch OnlyFans Leak, Public Outing, & Reactions REALLY EXPOSED, & Today’s News

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco Visit  https://www.cozyearth.com/defranco and use my code DEFRANCO to get 30% off your purchase! ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩- – 00:00 - Sketch Confirms Leaks Were  Real 06:11 - Family Films Bring Box Office Rebound 08:14 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 09:01 - Active Hurricane Season Expected After Beryl 11:07 - FBI Investigating Luxury Real Estate Brokers 13:16 - Saudi Arabia Has a New Sportswashing Venture: Pro-Boxing 20:02 - Sponsored by CozyEarth 21:06 - City National Bank Accused of Ignoring Red Flags in Hollywood Ponzi Scheme Previous Saudi Sportswashing Coverage: https://youtu.be/N5dFckd50_w?si=ufpvsTE5ZL28QU_E&t=643  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Saudi Boxing: Lili Stenn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So let's talk about it. It was the most requested thing today. Let's talk about this Sketch situation, which if you don't know, Sketch is an incredibly popular streamer and online personality. I personally became aware of him because I just saw some hilarious clips

of him playing Madden, just as a one of a kind, weird, funny personality. And I definitely wasn't alone with that. Like this guy and his catchphrases, they hit the mainstream. What's up brother? What's up brother? Special teams, special plays, special players.

Right, he has just continued to grow and grow over recent months. But seemingly out of nowhere, old footage gets leaked online showing him an adult OnlyFans content with other men. Right, so initially a lot of the conversation was, is this real or not? With Sketch initially at this time

getting a lot of hate online, people clowning on him. And as the situation is just growing and growing, Sketch actually goes on stream and he confirms it's him. Okay, I'll start from the top. Look at this. Open and honest. That was me. That was me. It's okay, though. Two years ago, I did some stuff. I'm sorry if you've seen similar stuff. You know, I'm a changed person. With Sketch then continuing on, really only the way he could. So two years ago, I did not have sexual relations with that man. I'm just kidding. I did possibly Catch out of the bag.

With the men going on to thank everyone that stuck by him though saying if you're angry he understands. Saying that that content had happened at a tough and dark period in his life. I was dealing with some addiction problems a couple of them, but No excuse there. Wait, I guess. But also saying that he's changed since then and he's not gonna be making that kind of content again. And a big meaningful part of all this is,

he noted that none of this has been easy. He's known the entire time that these videos were out there, they could resurface at any time. And actually with that, adding that in some ways, it's like a weight's now off of his shoulders, that he no longer has to live with wondering, oh, is it gonna happen? But there, also saying.

Plan A was, and I will say candidly, was to probably eat a, eat a, well, probably to call it quits if this ever came out. But some people saved me. Shout out Banks, shout out my parents. Like, shout out y'all, like, I but I'm changed. Right there, noting that the people at the organization, FaZe, especially Banks and his friends,

they really helped him. And actually on that note, right? Not just supporting him privately. You had people like FaZe Banks saying, all the FaZe boys were with him last night. Sketch was my homie yesterday. He's my homie today. He'll be my homie tomorrow.

And you know, with that, we've seen a lot of love and support out there for Sketch. Meanwhile, you had other massive creators in the space like Jacksepticeye saying, huge amount of respect for owning up to it and being real with everyone instead of letting the internet run rampant. But also adding, he has nothing to apologize

or feel bad for. He's a grown man who can do whatever he wants. I'm glad people were there for him to get him through it. Of course, the internet is the internet and there is no shortage of people who just have vile and bizarre things to say, right? Some have mocked the people who supported him. He's genuinely one of the most genuine guys ever. No, he wasn't. No, he's not.

He lied to you about his life. You're acting like it was like a long, two years ago, he was taking it up the ass. If my friend was doing that, I'm sorry, we're not friends anymore. Meanwhile, others saying stuff like. It's not about you being gay gang. It's about you not telling nobody and hiding it and coming a whole different alias. You got kids that watch you game. My little brother watch you, bro. And I'm not allowing him to watch you no more. Y'all don't take it like this serious with kids.

And that's why they end up gay at 11 years old. And while those two brain dead fuck faces who have cultivated an audience of children who think they're smart and or adults who are also brain dead fuck faces, you know, they had some people cheer them on. There was no shortage, right? There was tons and tons of people pushing back against that garbage. Creators like XQC specifically talking about Bruce,

drop them off saying, You act like you care when somebody being gay or somebody kissing a dude or somebody gambling or somebody being trans protect my children. If you cared about protecting children, you wouldn't do 80% of the you do on a daily basis on your stream. You don't care.

And that's fine. I don't care either. Just stop pretending. Son Piker writing, "'Sketch' should never feel shame for his past as long as his action never hurt a soul. Nothing about his private life that was leaked even remotely meets that standard.

Shame on everyone that made fun of him and made him feel unwelcome. And Kai Sinet, one of the biggest streamers in the space, saying, Why does something that somebody else do get you so mad to the point where you gotta go on the internet and bully the, like, and say crazy shit? You would think that this,

murder somebody. Yeah, personally, I have to say, Sketch has nothing to apologize for. Seemingly, he was an adult who didn't hurt anyone. He made a personal choice. It's not like he made that content, but he's known for saying that like, gay people shouldn't have rights.

He was just a guy going through some stuff, seemingly addicted, just trying to survive in life. And also like, let's not forget, he was outed against his will in this situation. And I'm personally of the mindset of anyone that attacked him over this, they can go fuck themselves. And I mean that whether it be Joe Blow bigoted Barry to fucking Tyreek Hill or any fucking famous person.

He tweeted, oh sketch done played y'all. Tyreek, if I was you I'd watch myself. You're fast, but you're not faster than a Google search you fucking woman beater. Personally, I care more about a piece of shit beating a woman than if they fuck them. Tyreek, you're pregnant girl, that's who you put hands on? You got the conviction scrubbed after the fact, but that shit's still on your soul, huh? Meanwhile, you got some of these other motherfuckers out here who are LARPing a whole religion so they can use it as a shield saying, "'Oh, but see, Sketch was lying to us.'"

Like, has he had this secret or this thing in his past that he knew that fuck faces like you were gonna use to attack him because you have an audience of bigoted fuckheads? Also, I mean, everyone can fucking get it today. I love how even some of the people who are defending Sketch are the same motherfuckers who I've seen in the past that were like, Oh, when a girl has an OnlyFans, she's ruined forever.

But not when it's your boy, that's when people are people. But also maybe with that group, like this can be a learning experience because something that you didn't relate to, now you can relate to because it happened to your friend, it could make you, uh, I don't know, see a human being as a human being and be less shitty about them. But yeah, that's all I got to say about that. And again, I don't think Sketch has anything to apologize for. I wish him the best.

I'm very glad that he had good people around him that had his back. Because this industry and this space, it's so fucking stupid and people are so flippant. So it's good that someone was there for him. And well, yeah, there will always be hate and bigotry and it seemingly is more on display than ever these days. I'm very glad that this situation also highlighted

all the people standing up against that hate. Let's call that a silver lining to a situation that really should have never happened. But that said, while you're maybe leaving a comment about this first story, or you're just sitting back trying to take it all in, I gotta say, hey, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. It's of course your daily dive into the news,

big and small for better and worse. Which on that note, we got a lot to talk about today, starting with, everyone's been talking about hot girls, some are this, rat boys, some are that, rats, some are there. But the real story is about those Milli Milli Minions. Because animated family movies are dominating the box office right now, starting with Despicable Me 4. With it over the holiday weekend, opening to over $120 million at the box office and making another $100 million overseas. In fact, you had AMC saying that over the 4th of July holiday

4.2 million people went to its theaters, largely thanks to Despicable Me. And the film also reportedly had strong merch sales, second only to what AMC saw for the Taylor Swift Errors Tour film. And this notably as it's not the only movie out there doing well right now, with Inside Out 2 also having been a massive success.

In fact, it just became the fifth highest grossing animated film of all time, reaching a global total of $1.2 billion. Which also, one, makes it the highest grossing movie of the year, and two, it has people going, "'Hey, these films, it's marking the big rebound "'for the summer box office.'" Because as you might remember, back in May and early June,

you had analysts saying, "'Hey, this might be it. "'This whole season, maybe movie theaters in general. "'It could be a bust.'" But now you've got these two really big jolts and one media analyst telling the LA Times, "'To see this total change in the box office "'shows how unpredictable the box office can be.

"'All it takes is a few over-performances "'with some great movies back to back "'to totally change the entire perception "'of the health of the movie theater "'and of movies in general.'" With the outlet also saying, "'What's really promising about this big booze "'from two family films is that it could mean

"'that it gets families into the habit "'of going back to the theater, which then could help other movies that are set to come out this year, like Moana 2 and Wicked. I also think, you know, it's worth noting that it's not just family-friendly films that have done well. The new A Quiet Place did really well. Also, if you haven't seen it, highly recommend it. Different vibe than the first two, but in a good way. But as far as if the successes of these movies, these are outliers, or if it's the beginning of a growing trend and hopefully a stronger box office, that remains to be seen. Though I will say, I just saw the trailer for Gladiator 2 come out today,

and holy fuck, I cannot wait to watch that movie. Also, in the more immediate future, I cannot wait to watch Long Legs. And then, who has not felt the cost of living in recent years? You know, a large number of people are falling further into debt with credit cards, personal loans, medical bills, and more. Something that can just be overwhelming, but there are options out there to help. And if you're making payments every month and your balances aren't going down, the sponsor of today's show, PDS Debt, can help. There's a world where you can make just one low monthly payment based on what you can afford. And everyone with over $10,000 or more in debt qualifies, and there's no minimum credit score required. Plus, when you go to pdsdebt.com slash DeFranco, they'll give you a free debt analysis. And I mean,

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in the Caribbean, becoming the first category five storm ever seen in the Atlantic Ocean in June, with it killing at least 10 people across the region there. And while yes, by the time that it slammed into Texas yesterday, it had actually been downgraded to a category one hurricane, and it's further since been downgraded to a tropical storm. The impact that it is having is still massive, right? I mean, at least eight people have died in the US so far,

and as of this morning, more than 2 million people throughout Texas were still without power, with officials from cities like Galveston, for example, saying it could be as many as two weeks before electricity is restored. Well, that's a big deal pretty much any time of year. I mean, you're talking about millions of people right now without power facing super high temperatures.

With some areas hit hardest by the storm, expected to feel like well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. So we've actually had the National Weather Service issuing not only a heat advisory for the region, but also specifically talking about how the extreme heat is creating hazardous conditions for those working outdoors, like when you're cleaning up after the storm. And this is the heat wave the US has been facing

has already shattered records. Nearly half the country under heat related warnings today. Which also I wanna mention a key thing here. Heat is actually the deadliest form of extreme weather in the US. Actually killing more than twice as many people each year as hurricanes and tornadoes combined. And actually to that point,

there's almost been as many heat related deaths in the US in the past week as from Beryl. But also Beryl can exacerbate other forms of extreme weather as well. Because even though the storm is weaker now, it has the potential to trigger more flooding and tornadoes as it continues on across the country. In fact, as many as 25 million people

from Arkansas to Michigan were under flood watches today as Beryl moved northeast. And yesterday, hell, there were 110 tornado warnings across the country, the most on record for any July day. Which yay, fantastic, just another thing on the list of records being broken. And all of this just being another example of how interconnected all this stuff is

and how the real impacts of climate change are here. I mean, y'all, June was the 13th straight record setting month in terms of global temperature. And it's these consistently high temperatures around the globe that have been part of the reason that scientists have been predicting a dangerous hurricane season for months now. Something that we're seeing with Beryl,

but also something that unfortunately is not gonna end with Beryl. All of which gives us yet another reason to just brace for the coming months, as if there wasn't already enough going on. And then we should talk about Oren and Tal Alexander, who many of you probably don't know, but they are some of the biggest names in real estate.

Like for example, in 2019, they brokered the sale of a roughly $240 million New York apartment to a hedge fund manager by the name of Ken Griffin. That deal still holds the record as the most expensive home ever sold in the US. And besides that, their clients have reportedly included the likes of Kanye West, DJ Khaled, and The Weeknd.

But these two are kind of known for trying to live like celebrities as well. They're flying around the world in private jets, hosting lavish parties, making appearances at big events like the World Cup and the Super Bowl. But they're in the news today, not because they're launching some reality, realty show, but instead it's because Orin, Tal,

and their other brother, Alon, they're facing allegations of rape and sexual assault. Allegations that are now reportedly being investigated by the FBI, at least according to the Wall Street Journal, which spoke with people familiar with the matter and viewed some sort of related document. And specifically, the journal's reporting found that agents from an FBI task force

on child exploitation and sex trafficking have been talking to women who say they've experienced or witnessed sexual assault by the three brothers. And a key thing here is that all of this is coming out after the brothers have been accused of sexual assaults in civil lawsuits filed just this year by multiple different women. Right, in March, a pair of lawsuits filed by two women

alleged sexual assaults by Oren and Alon dating back to 2010 and 2012. And last month, another woman alleged that she was raped by both Tal and Alon together while Oren watched. And then on top of all that, five additional women told the journal that they were sexually assaulted or raped by Oren. Not to mention that the attorney for the two women in the March lawsuits said that he's been approached

by more than two dozen additional women since then, with many of them being young models who had been in the brothers' social circle, but didn't report their alleged assaults to police because they had willingly gone on dates and parties with the brothers. And so actually a massive thing with this is that the FBI is reportedly not just looking

into these existing allegations that go back decades. They're also looking all over the country to identify other potential witnesses or possible victims. Now, of course, with all of this, while the allegations are piling up, they are, as of now, just allegations. While the FBI looking into them certainly raises the stakes, it doesn't necessarily mean

that it will result in criminal charges. And actually with that, the brothers have denied everything, with one of their attorneys also saying that she and her clients were unaware of any federal probe. And going on further to say that they are unaware of any basis for an FBI inquiry at all. But for now, we'll have to wait to see what happens, both from the investigation, but also since this has been

getting more and more attention, if more allegations come out. And then let's talk about all the emerging questions in the reports around Mohammed Bonesaw's next venture into sports. Because he has been throwing billions and billions of dollars of oil money around, and now he's looking at a total takeover

of professional boxing as we know it. Because like we've talked about for a while now, Saudi Arabia is rapidly growing dominant in the global sporting economy, with the country just continuing to pump more and more money into a wide range of different events. Of course, with that coverage, there's always the conversation about sports washing,

the idea that Saudi Arabia is using sports investments to improve its reputation and distract from the fact that it's an autocracy with a shitty record. Several months back, we did a deep dive into how these unprecedented investments go way beyond just sports washing. Right, that's just one of the elements at play here. And experts say that this is all part of a broader effort

to consolidate control over the global sports market so that Saudi Arabia can expand its economic and geopolitical influence. And when athletes, sporting organizations, and shareholders agree to take that Saudi money, it just concentrates more and more power into their hands. And if you didn't catch that deep dive, I'll link to it down below,

but think of this as kind of like a part two, because now it seems like they're poised to do what they've been doing, but in the world of boxing. With us seeing sources telling multiple outlets that Saudi Arabia is in the final stages of approving a plan that would reshape the economic, structure, and even the very future of the sport. Specifically, the project would create

a global pro boxing league, which is something that just doesn't exist now. In case you don't know the ins and outs of the boxing world, the sport is currently composed of multiple different governing organizations, all of which have their own rules for championship belts. But as reports explain, this new proposal would effectively create a single boxing entity

that would replace the sometimes chaotic and frustrating system of dueling promoters and warring sanctioning bodies. And adding that the new entity would have the resources and the fighters to stage high profile cards around the globe. And that single centralized body would be run by Saudi Arabia and financed by the country's

massive sovereign public investment fund, or PIF, which notably has also been behind its other major sports investments. And as far as like how much money we're talking about here, sources told the Times that the initial investment alone could be as high as $2 billion. With a person familiar with the matter also telling Reuters that the new league itself could be valued

between four and $5 billion. And as far as the specifics of the Saudi proposal, according to the Times, the league would sign around 200 of the top men's boxers around the globe and then divide them into 12 weight classes that include around 15 fighters each, with boxers then being able to rise in the ranking tables, but also get eliminated from the series

and replaced with new talent. Which you know, if you're familiar with MMA and specifically the UFC, that structure might sound familiar. You know, those similarities, it's not a coincidence. The UFC is immensely popular and it's been steadily chipping away at boxing's global pull.

So it absolutely makes sense to draw from the UFC's successes in the space. You know, this makeover could breathe new life into boxing. With the times explaining, the sport has lost its luster and some of its allure in recent decades. With them going on to call out the disjointed system of sanctioning bodies that arrange different fights and titles and arguing at this structure,

leaves fans to sift through a confusing system that frequently stymies meetings between the best boxers and one that boasts multiple champions in the same weight classes. And because the whole boxing industry is all tangled up in this complex web, the Saudi plan has the potential to restructure the entire market. For example, some of the top boxers currently have long-term contracts with promotion companies,

and those promoters are often tied to certain TV networks. So to resolve that, sources say the PIF is considering making partial or possibly even full investments in some of the biggest promoters. Also, reportedly, partnerships are being discussed with some of the largest traditional organizations in the space that control the rights to boxers and super valuable intellectual property. This including old videos, results, title belts held by boxing giants like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. And so with all this, the big question now is, will we see Saudi Arabia throwing gobs of money

at all the boxers like they have with other sports? Because again, we already know that Saudi money has upended the global sports economy, creating this sort of monopoly over many of the best players across numerous sporting events by offering these just insane money sign eyeball deals that no one else can compete with.

Like for example, per Forbes, Cristiano Ronaldo has been the single highest paid athlete in the world for the last two years since striking a deal to play soccer for the Saudis, with a reportedly raking in estimated total earnings of $260 million, which is an all time high for a soccer player. But the second highest paid athlete on the Forbes list

also skyrocketing through the ranks, thanks to Saudi cash. With that title going to golfer John Rom, who notably shocked the sports world by joining Saudi-backed Live Golf back in December, with his estimated earnings now being at $218 million. With those two the only ones above $200 million, the third being Messi at $135 million. Which is also actually really notable because Messi famously turned down an offer to join the Saudi league that some reports said was valued at $1.6 billion. So there, he's not the only one to turn down that offer. It's also been reported that Tiger Woods rejected a 700 to $800 million deal.

Also the word billions been floated for names like LeBron and Mbappe. And you know, with this, you have a lot of people saying it is hard to turn down that just cartoonish amount of money. And already we've seen numerous major players in the boxing space indicate they have no issue taking Saudi money. Which you know, isn't surprising in general, but also because the country has been steadily wading into the boxing waters for years now.

The country actually hosted its first pro boxing match in September of 2018, notably just days before Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. A fact that isn't directly relevant, but is also an important and stark reminder of who we're talking about here. While those matches, they initially started slowly over the past two years or so, shit has absolutely exploded. I mean, it's essentially the capital of the boxing world now. And then what now feels like overnight, Saudi Arabia has become one of the single biggest destinations for the most important bouts

with the most famous names in the game. And they get the attention economy. I mean, look back to February of 2023. They've used Saudi money and YouTuber boxing. The Saudis now famously hosting a match between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury. And the absolute treasure trope of money, influence and views that is creator boxing, it paid off for the Saudis now famously hosting a match between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury. And the absolute treasure trope of money, influence, and views that is Creator Boxing,

it paid off for the Saudis. With that match being described as the most hyped boxing event of 2023. With it not only getting tons of views and buzz, but I mean, you also saw massive names in the world of boxing showing up and making clear that Saudi Arabia is the future. With this including the likes of Deontay Wilder,

the former World Heavyweight Boxing champ, who basically acted as a living, breathing ad for Saudi Arabia, doing press junkets and telling members of the media that the Middle East is where it's happening. And we've seen the likes of Mike Tyson and Jake Paul saying essentially the same. And well, technically, you know, the league is in the early stages and it hasn't even officially been announced yet. Based on what we're seeing, it seems all but kind of guaranteed. I mean, you even have UFC president Dana White telling reporters it's definitely possible that he will get involved with the anticipated Saudi League. And according to Kieran Mulvaney and Eric Raskin, two journalists who host a boxing podcast together,

criticism of Saudi Arabia, it's died down in the field as the country has continued to shove more and more money down the industry's throat. And actually with that, there are already signs that Saudi Arabia is trying to sink its claws into the world of boxing media and control the narratives here. Those podcasters going on to say that they got a message from a branch of Saudi's PIF recruiting them to work for the editorial team of quote, "'A new boxing venture in Saudi Arabia that will be reporting directly to his excellency.'" You know, it's very unlikely they're the only ones getting those messages with Raskin speculating.

I wonder at this moment how close we're coming to the end of independent boxing journalism, which you know is a very interesting prospect because we're not only talking about Saudi Arabia maybe completely taking over the boxing industry, but also potentially making it so you can't get objective coverage discussing sports washing or criticism

of an authoritarian country. Because again, by all accounts, boxing is a mess and it needs organization. It needs some sort of consolidation. It's also important to remember that this is a tool to control Saudi Arabia's image, to distract from what they want to distract from, because there's a lot of power in fun and games.

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largest Ponzi scheme, its victims are still struggling to see any financial justice. But a big part of the reason I want to talk about this is that that might actually change after Citi National Bank was hit with a $770 million lawsuit in late May. And that lawsuit was brought by a court-appointed figure who was put in charge of Zach Horwitz's now-defunct company, One in a Million Capital, both of which were central to the scam before being brought down in April of 2021. So here's how it all works.

Horwitz convinced people that One in a Million had unique licensing deals with Netflix, HBO, and Sony for Latin American movies. He'd then get money from investors to help facilitate the deal before paying them back out in a few months. But the problem with all that is that there were no real deals, and the money that he was then paying back out were from new investors signing up, aka textbook Ponzi scheme. But it didn't start out as Hollywood's largest Ponzi scheme or even seemingly as a scam. Ray Horowitz had wanted to be an actor for so long, but he was struggling in Hollywood under the name Zach Avery. So he had

started One in a Million as a production studio with some colleagues, using a large inheritance from his rich stepfather in order to make independent films that he could star in. Which, you know, is not an unheard of thing, but it's usually done by established actors doing passion projects. But then things changed when Horwitz landed legitimate licensing and distribution deals for some Latin American movies, laying the groundwork for the entire scam. And so then, we see in 2014, he turned to a Chicago-based college friend and former business partner, Jake Wonderland, for $37,000. Promising Jake a $9,000 profit within 90 days. While that sounded too good to be true, Horwitz had all the paperwork lined up and it all checked out. So Wonderland jumps on board, and to his surprise, he gets the money on time. With things then just growing from there, with more family

and friends signing up to take part in these licensing deals. And I mean, it was outrageously successful. So much so that the initial core of investors out in Chicago had to start their own business to handle just their end of the money. For years, things were just smooth sailing. And anytime anyone had a question, Horowitz was there with answers. You wanted to see paperwork. He had it. You wanted to talk to someone at one of the companies that he was working with. He could set that up. He just had one golden rule. Never directly contact HBO, Sony, or Netflix. Saying that there were some strict NDAs and warned that if you guys go around me, you're going to blow up my business. By 2019, Horwitz wasn't moving around tens of thousands

of dollars. Instead, he brought in $358 million that year alone. But unfortunately for him, things started to fall apart around Thanksgiving when he missed his first payment ever. Because as we see in pretty much every Ponzi scheme, there are only so many people you can scam. For Horwitz, the whole word of mouth that he relied on to get new customers, that was drying up. So through that holiday season, Horwitz is facing scrutiny and questions. But the biggest confrontation came on January 4th of 2020 when Wonderland and another OG investor went to Horowitz's home for answers. Because they were owed $165 million by this point. And as always, Horowitz was as cool as a cucumber. He showed them documents and contracts and bank statements

to prove it all. Then COVID hitting and the Ponzi scheme just getting further and further behind on payments. Then lawyers getting involved with threats of lawsuits from various investors. Then at the end of February of 2020, the dominoes really falling. Wonderland and another deciding to break Horowitz's golden rule and call one of the companies that Horowitz was allegedly working with directly. In this case, it was at the account management firm Freeway Entertainment, which is where Horwitz claimed that the money that was owed to investors was piling up. While speaking with a representative, Wonderland gave an account number only to then be told that account number did not exist. And not only that, there were no accounts associated with Horwitz, which is when Wonderland realized, oh, this whole situation's fucked. And by that afternoon, the Chicago group's lawyers contacted the FBI.

Also, even if they hadn't, the FBI was going to be on to Horowitz soon enough because you had other investors coming to similar conclusions. You know, all of this leading to two weeks later, Wonderland making another call to Horowitz, though this time the FBI was listening in. And again, Horowitz was calm, explaining his normal BS about the deals and where the money actually was before Wonderland got impatient and said, here's the problem with that. That's not fucking true. We spoke to Freeway. There's no money in that account. Where in the fuck is our money? And after a long pause, Horowitz replied, I think the lawyers should do the talking. And unsurprisingly, Horowitz started getting super paranoid and his LA friends noticed. Now his wife just assumed that it was because he had trouble getting money from HBO or

Netflix. She apparently didn't know about the scheme. You know, is something that should be noted, you know, because despite having multiple business partners, apparently only Horowitz was involved and knew about the Ponzi scheme. But either way, at this point, Horowitz had even started to talk about leaving L.A. and they put their house on the market. Them set to accept an offer on April 6th when they were woken up by the FBI at their door yelling for Horowitz. And in total, he was facing 13 counts of fraud for his Ponzi scheme, which had raised more than $690 million over the years. Though notably, in 2021, he managed to cut a deal where he pled guilty to just a single count of fraud and was sentenced to 20 years in 2022. And so with this, the courts have appointed someone to take over one in a million capital to try and get the roughly $230

million owed to his victims. And you know, not for scamming purposes, but I just, I wish I had an ounce of the confidence these scammers have. Because I mean, when you look at this situation, it is crazy how he was able to get away with all this, despite how many red flags were all over the place for so long. I mean, it goes way, way back to before he even moved to LA and was living in Chicago. In the early 2010s, he had hit up Wonderland to come help him with his health-focused restaurant called Fuel. At the time, Wonderland was working at JP Morgan. And he only decided to come because Horwitz convinced him that he had a meeting with Howard Schultz and his venture capital firm, Maveron, and was looking at $30 million.

Which, if that name rings a bell, it's because he's the CEO who made Starbucks what it is today, and Maveron specializes in up-and-coming food brands. With Wonderland even getting an email for Schultz that said, I have faith in you, your team has faith in you. Be the person that you have always dreamed of becoming, Jake, and all the rest will fall into place. And actually, it was even better than that

because there was another private equity firm competing with Maveron to invest. But then suddenly, the deal collapsed and Fuel went out of business within a year. And there never seemed to be a good reason why it all happened. Although, ironically, one of the reasons was that Horwitz was allegedly having private investment issues because he claimed his money guy was involved in a Ponzi scheme. But regardless, Horwitz then lied to everyone, including his wife, and said that despite Maveron not investing into Fuel, they wanted to bring him onto a job in LA. So that's where they moved. Also, to be clear, there was no gig with Maveron

and he never knew Schultz. With his whole move seeming to be for Horwitz's own ego because he clearly wanted to be an actor. And so within months of moving, he bitched about his new so-called job and started to land roles with almost no success. With this actually being one of the reasons he even started One in a Million Capital.

And it was actually his Ponzi scheme's initial successes that let him get bigger and bigger acting roles, including being alongside Olivia Munn and Brian Cox. That actually just added to his red flags because if anyone had just done a little amount of digging, they would have seen how easily Horwitz lied. Like when he and his PR team claimed that Fuel was actually a successful brand with multiple locations, saying they even had products and outlets like Target being sold for tens of millions, which again, lies, lies, lies. Now, notably, some people did raise their eyebrows at all this, but they'd end up getting talked down by others

because, you know, well, everyone was making money. Even those who seemingly should have known better, they were blinded by the prospect of making so much money. One thing that would have properly been flagged if people had done their due diligence were the contracts that Horowitz was using. Apparently, they were just copy pasted from a few legit contracts that he managed to find online.

The men just finding the signatures of Hollywood executives on LinkedIn and then forging them. He also faked all the emails and texts. I mean, everything with apps that could spoof that information. Like that inspirational email that Wonderland got from Starbucks Schultz, completely fake. But, you know, the average investor not noticing the contracts looking similar, that's believable. But what's not, the city national bank would ignore all these signs. And that's according to a recent lawsuit brought by the court-appointed receiver of one in a million capital. In 2013, they'd initially given Horowitz a $1.14 million line of credit from his mom's brokerage account as leverage. And then when the Ponzi's money started flowing in, they

increased it 456 different times to $64.2 million. And on at least one occasion, a bank employee had flagged some suspicious activity on the account. Notably, there was just a crazy amount of cash coming in and out of it all the time. But Horwitz complained to the account manager who assured him that it was just routine and that it wouldn't happen again. And according to the suit, the bank was willing to ignore clear problems like the large cash transfers all the time because they were so eager to make money off of the interest from his line of credit as well as sell him other services. But for now, I mean, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens. Will any of the victims see any of their money? Will City National face any kind of government regulation

if what's in the lawsuit ends up being true? Who knows? But if there is a lesson here and it's a hard lesson to stick to, but it's an oldie for a reason, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But that, my friends, is the end of today's Tuesday evening Wednesday morning dive into the news.

Of course, I'd love to know any and all thoughts you had on the things we talked about today that stood out to you. But either way, I just want to say I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.