Man sought in $14-million film scam surrenders
Investors were falsely told they would be funding production of a Netflix feature.
A Manhattan Beach man who allegedly scammed $14 million from investors by falsely telling them their money would be used to produce a feature film distributed by Netflix has surrendered to federal authorities.
Adam Joiner, 41, who turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday, was charged with wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
He was released from custody Tuesday afternoon on $350,000 bond.
Prosecutors said Joiner pitched a script to Chinese and Korean investors for “Legends,” an “anachronistic mash-up of legendary and historical figures” such as Davy Crockett, Calamity Jane and Paul Bunyan.
According to an affidavit by an FBI investigator, Joiner forged signatures, emails and distribution agreements from Netflix executives to send to the investors. None of the executives he named to investors knew Joiner and some did not even work for Netflix at the time the fake agreements were made, the investigator said.
According to the affidavit, in one email posing as an executive, Joiner wrote: “Looking forward to making this movie!” He then began sending periodic updates about the films, investigators said.
“We are expecting to secure Don Murphy by this Friday to be our ‘name’ producer for the film,” he wrote in one message, according to the affidavit. “Don has done all of the Transformers movies and several others. He has discussed wanting to bring in Michael Bay to direct so we plan to explore that.”
In another, he wrote, “Director: We agreed to terms verbally yesterday with Guillermo del Toro and his agent.”
According to the affidavit, Joiner actually did have an agreement with Murphy, but the producer told investigators that the film never reached pre-production stages.
Murphy said that because Joiner didn’t have a successful track record with film production, they agreed to use an escrow account and an initial payment of $600,000, according to the affidavit. Murphy terminated his partnership with Joiner in summer 2017 and never heard back from him, the affidavit said.
Joiner eventually told his investors that he was replacing Netflix with Amblin as the distributor and began making excuses for delays in filming, including “internal politics,” the affidavit said.
“[O]nce Bradley Cooper turned down the agreement with Universal ... Universal decided to refuse payment to Amblin,” one email read, according to investigators.
According to the affidavit, Joiner didn’t return investors’ money when asked. They said Bank of America records show deposits to accounts shared with his wife and an account titled “Stock Car Willie, LLC,” which is the name of a film listed on his IMDb page about an African American NASCAR driver.
In August 2016, Joiner purchased a $5-million home in Manhattan Beach using money from the investors, prosecutors said.
He is to appear in court Sept. 23, according to the U.S attorney’s office.