Jason Cloth, a Beverly Hills-based film producer known for movies including Joker, Longlegs and Babylon, has been charged with federal fraud offences over an alleged Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $100 million. Prosecutors say the scheme, run through his Canada-based company Creative Wealth Media Finance Corp, involved soliciting money for supposed film and entertainment projects and a gaming investment platform, while secretly diverting funds elsewhere and using new investors' money to pay off earlier ones.

According to a 12-page indictment filed in Chicago, Cloth, 60, obtained the funds from an Illinois investment adviser, that adviser's clients and other investors through false claims about the value and performance of their investments, with some money allegedly funnelled into a Canadian real estate project. He was arrested and made an initial court appearance in Los Angeles, and now faces seven counts of wire fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; prosecutors are also seeking forfeiture of at least $12.25 million. Cloth has built up numerous producing credits over the past 12 years, including The Birth of a Nation, The Addams Family films, Judas and the Black Messiah and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.