A producer sued Amazon Studios, Vice Studios and director Rebecca Chaiklin on Thursday, alleging that he was falsely portrayed as an accomplice of convicted fraudster Zach Horwitz within the recent documentary series “Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam.”
The producer, Julio Hallivis, contends that his fame has been ruined by the false implication that he acted as an informant and was complicit in Horwitz’s crimes.
Horwitz is serving a 20-year sentence over what federal prosecutors described as a $650 million Ponzi scheme. He pleaded guilty to allegations that he forged contracts with Netflix and HBO to dupe some 250 investors.
Hallivis was his business partner in 1inMM Productions, which produced just a few movies. In response to the lawsuit, Hallivis was not involved in financing and knew nothing concerning the Ponzi scheme until Horwitz was arrested.
The lawsuit alleges that the three-episode docuseries, which was presented by Amazon MGM Studios and produced by Library Movies, Vice Studios and Article 19 Movies, repeatedly suggests that Hallivis was involved within the fraud.
“In consequence of defendants’ desire to sensationalize the series and boost viewer numbers, Hallivis’ fame and profession have been destroyed, causing him great personal suffering and lack of earnings,” the suit states.
Hallivis declined to be interviewed for “Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam,” which premiered Oct. 17 on Prime Video. The criticism argues that he’s a personal figure, which sets a lower bar to prove defamation.
The documentary includes an interview with Alex Loftus, a civil attorney, who was quoted saying that Horwitz “couldn’t do that alone.”
“I consider that he’s protecting someone in his inner circle,” Loftus said.
The documentary shows photos of Horwitz and Hallivis together, and includes commentary that Hallivis was “intense,” and “on edge.”
An interviewee is quoted as saying that Hallivis was paranoid and “just gave the impression of he saw something coming, I feel, down the pipe.”
The lawsuit states that the scene is defamatory “since it implies that Hallivis was assisting Horwitz in his criminal activities and because of this, he was nervous, sad, and paranoid, and he feared that it was only a matter of time before he was going to be caught.”
The ultimate episode also features a suggestion that Hallivis and his brother, Diego, became informants to assist the federal government’s case against Horwitz, implying that they needed to cooperate to reduce their criminal exposure.
In actual fact, the criticism states, Hallivis was interviewed a single time by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and was never told that he was suspected of wrongdoing.
The episode also features a quote from Loftus, who filed suit on behalf of among the investors: “If Julio was spending all day and all night with Zach Horwitz for months at a time I don’t see how he may not know that this was a fantasy.”
Loftus also said that he didn’t have facts to point out that Hallivis was a fraudster, but “we’ve got some things you would assume that look pretty bad.”
“These statements suggest that Hallivis was a fraudster, even when Loftus had no conclusive proof,” the criticism states.
In response to the suit, Hallivis has been shunned by former business associates, and even his own brother has told him that they can not work together on account of the reputational damage.
Hallivis is represented by Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, an attorney who has filed several suits against Netflix on behalf of people that alleged they were defamed in various shows.