West Islip Man Sentenced For Defrauding Broadway Producers Of 'Rebecca'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - A former stockbroker who admitted conning the Broadway producers of "Rebecca" has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison.
West Islip man Mark Hotton was sentenced Friday in Manhattan by federal Judge John Koeltl.
Hotton was ordered to serve two years and 10 months in prison. He must also forfeit $500,000 and pay $68,000 in restitution.
EXTRA: Read The Indictment (pdf)
Hotton had pleaded guilty to charges that he made false promises that he could raise $4 million from phantom investors to save the adaptation of the psychological thriller. He asked for tens of thousands of dollars in fees and commissions in return.
Producer Ben Sprecher attended the sentencing, saying he wanted to look Hotton in the eye after he did a "terrible thing."
Hotton, 46, led the producers to believe he had $4.5 million in financing commitments and the possibility of a $1.1 million loan, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
The planned Broadway production of the 1938 novel collapsed amid questions about its financial backing, and a growing suspicion that one of its primary investors — a secretive businessman named Paul Abrams who had supposedly pledged $4.5 million, then suddenly died of malaria — never existed.
He was arrested at his West Islip home in 2012.
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