Prosecutors: Producer Bilks 7 Investors Out Of $165k For Fake Broadway Show
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - It seems like the kind of crime Mel Brooks made famous, except this one was a flop.
Roland Scahill claimed to be the lead producer of a new Broadway show and scammed $165,000 from seven would-be investors in less than three months, according to District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office.
Scahill, 41, told his investors he had secured the rights to opera star Kathleen Battle's life story and that Lupita Nyong'o had signed on to star in a production about her at Broadway's Booth Theatre, prosecutors said. He also told them Netflix would film the bogus show, dubbed The KB Project, and make it available online, according to prosecutors.
Scahill told his victims he was raising money for the show at a rate of $15,000 per share to fund the first stages of production, prosecutors said.
After a while, the investors wanted their money back, and Scahill sent them checks which bounced, prosecutors said. He had already spent it on stocks, options, credit cards, rent as well as food, alcohol and entertainment, according to prosecutors.
"This indictment closes the curtain on Roland Scahill's phantom production," Vance said. "My Office will continue working to safeguard the integrity of this vital industry."
Scahill faces charges of criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny and scheme to defraud.
New Yorkers had mixed reaction to the investigation.
"I think it's absolutely disgusting. It makes me sick when stuff like that that happens in the city," Christopher Poyiatzis of Queens told CBS2's Jessica Layton.
"It's not surprising... right? I think what's surprising is the people invested without having all the facts," another person said.
Running a show starring some of the best names in the business? It's nice work if you can get it, but the only ticket Scahill has right now is the one to jail.
His attorney told CBS2 the client pleaded not guilty. Attempts at reaching the producer were not successful.
