Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam (2025) s01e03 Episode Script
Episode 3
1
[Chaiklin] Who do you think was pretending
to be the HBO executive
on those calls Zach arranged with JJMT?
[Mallory] I have no idea. Truly.
With Zach, I have no idea.
Could have Zach used one of his girls
to, you know, fake something? Sure.
Just somehow persuading someone,
maybe paying them, telling them,
"Can you just act like this?"
Them not thinking it's a big deal.
[Chaiklin] Do you think there's any chance
it was his mother?
No.
I don't think so.
I don't think it was his mom.
But do I feel that he's been enabled
his whole life by his mother?
Yes.
I just think he always thought his mom
would just get him out of everything.
Apparently, he's a narcissist.
And that only happens when you either have
a parent absent from your life
or a parent that's a complete coddler,
where you can do no wrong, or both.
[Steven] Zach's mom is a lot more
business savvy and finance savvy
than Zach ever was.
[intriguing music playing]
[Stefan] He wanted all the benefits of her
as, like, a financial advisor,
I guess you would say.
And he leaned on her
for a lot of resources.
But Zach was always intimidated by her.
It was just, like, a never-ending chase
to make Sue proud of him
or happy about his life.
[Sue] I had to write this down,
'cause there was, um,
a lot I needed to say.
Zach called last year and told me
he was asking Mal to marry him.
He gave me the detail, the place,
the time he planned to propose.
Yes, he had everything very planned out.
- After all, he's my son.
- [laughter]
- ♪
- [cheering, applause]
[cheering, applause fades]
[Steven] When my dad passed away,
he had a significant estate.
I think the public record is clear
that there was litigation involved
between Sue and I.
And while I'm not at liberty
to talk about my dad's estate,
the closest thing I have
to a sister, Kerrie,
had a front-row seat.
[man] Kerrie interview, take one. Mark.
[Kerrie] Zach was very much
made in his mother's image,
in that she felt like he deserved
the world and he was gonna get it.
I believe that Sue had
a very large influence
on cutting Steven out of his dad's life.
I saw it firsthand.
She was threatened by him
being the sole heir.
[Osnos] I was surprised to discover
the lawsuit involving his mother.
That unlocked a whole different chamber
in this story.
[Kerrie] Bob and Sue met at a casino
when his sister ran into Sue
in a bathroom and they were talking.
And Sue had said,
"I'm looking to meet someone,"
and she said,
"Oh, you should meet my brother.
He's recently single, and he's rich."
[Steven] My dad was not flashy with money.
[Kerrie] He was kind of
the millionaire next door
that was quiet and nobody really knew
he had a lot of money.
But Sue did,
and she wanted to live that life,
where everybody knew
they had a lot of money.
He went from an RV to a mansion.
He wanted to give her what she wanted,
so he did things that were
fairly uncharacteristic
for the Bob that we had known
before he met Sue.
[Steven] My dad and Sue were together for
four, maybe five years when he was
diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
It was hard for Steven
when his father got that diagnosis,
because Steven was in Florida
and his dad was in Indiana.
And Sue locked everything down.
Steven's partner had a lot of suspicions.
To me, it was very clear the objective
was total control of the estate.
She was taking the position of having
her family recognized as his family.
There were very few times where Bob
was kind of allowed with us alone.
Whenever we called on the phone,
it was on speakerphone
or she was on the other line listening.
Bob had been a very strong force
before the illness,
but he definitely was not the same person.
[Steven] Chemo, radiation,
stem cell transplants,
all those things wreaks havoc
on your body.
And
There were many times
that I don't think that Bob was aware
of what was going on,
even when we were in the room.
I think that he was so ill that--
I mean, he was very easily manipulated,
because you have to rely on the people
around you when you're in that situation.
Steven would receive emails,
and they were clearly not written by Bob,
and they were signed by Bob
from Bob's email account.
They were clearly not in Bob's voice.
There were emails that went
to the financial advisors
about changing the will.
But Steven had always been told
that he was heir to what Bob had built.
[Steven] The prenup
that my dad had in place
had a detailed description
of the assets of which
it was pretty obvious I was his only son
and I was the heir.
[pensive music playing]
As my dad's illness progressed, I remember
looking at him and thinking
this may be the last--
We're probably nearing the end.
[Arron] The day that Bob passed away,
I opened the closets in one of the rooms
we were staying in,
and I found every gift that we had sent
them, still boxed, hidden in the closet.
The thought of his father thinking that
we didn't remember him for Father's Day
or his birthday was really hurtful,
but it almost seemed by design.
The night of his father's passing,
Sue called a family meeting,
and she read from a handwritten
piece of paper Bob's estate and wishes.
When I left that meeting,
I told Steven, "That is
the weirdest thing I've ever seen."
It was all written by hand, and I thought,
"An estate this size? Like,
that's just not how it would be done."
[Osnos] According to
what was filed in court,
Sue Kozlowski's lawyers said,
"No, this is a case of an ordinary example
of somebody rewriting their will
after being remarried."
They said that this allegation
was false and distorted.
And then, eventually,
they reached a confidential settlement,
and we don't know
what's in that settlement.
It disappeared into a legal black hole.
Writing a lot of stories over the years,
I've become entirely
willing to believe either scenario.
[Kerrie] If you put the truth
in front of her,
Sue was very good at
making it,
"That's not really how you saw it."
I guess you'd call that gaslighting today.
[intriguing music playing]
[Mallory] When I look back now,
it's so hard for me to grasp how
he led me and so many people to believe
that he was, like,
this amazing, normal person,
because all the lies and the manipulation
and all that that was going on,
he had to go to bed with
every single night
and then wake up and do it all over again.
♪
[Doug] At this point,
it had been months since we'd been paid.
So we constantly asked Jake
what the status of our investment was,
and he was quick to give us very positive
assurances that the money is fine.
[phone line ringing]
[Zach] We've had discussions with HBO.
There's an offer on the table
that needs to be closed
immediately
that will get you
majority of your money back.
And so Jake told us
that he had just spoken to Zach
and that the money was going to be
released any day now.
Little did we know, a month later, the
perfect storm with COVID was gonna happen.
[Scott] Someone's sick. There's an audit.
Just a plethora of excuses.
[Mallory] I had a newborn baby
and a three-year-old.
My husband's company owes all this money.
[Osnos] This carefully structured life
that he had put together
was beginning to collapse.
[Mallory] He would be drinking.
And the Adderall got more and more.
Always wanting to have Julio over,
and they would be down in the movie room,
watching music videos
until, like, 4:00 in the morning.
Julio always seemed like
he needed a Xanax,
because, that guy, he would have this,
like, sadness and this, like, paranoia.
He just seemed like
he saw something coming,
I think, down the pipe.
[Mallory] I said,
"I thought we had millions of dollars.
Just take it out of our money
and give it to everyone,
'cause then we'll just, like, wait
until HBO pays us."
And he just called me a bitch
and stormed out of the house.
[door slams shut]
[tense music playing]
[Stefan] It would get quite loud
in the house.
And a big part of that was his addiction.
Between the weed, the Adderall,
the alcohol, it's like, what is reality?
And I think he lost a grip on that
long, long time ago.
Yeah.
♪
[Mallory] I was in such a robotic stage
of being this new mom
and trying to keep the peace.
It's really, really hard to get out,
because you-you fear this person
that you're in this relationship with.
[Bexxx] Zach started acting
a lot differently.
He's like, "I don't want to have sex.
I don't want to party.
I just want to be with you
and chill and have fun."
He told me, "I can't wait
until the day I can just run away.
I just want to run away with you."
♪
I never felt like
he was doing something illegal.
I just thought he was
poorly managing his business.
One, two, up.
You want to stay with it.
You want to stay fierce.
Don't let fear get inside that mind.
Don't let fear get inside that body.
You push through, even though it hurts.
You're stronger.
You know how to get through this.
You know how to push through,
'cause you're a wild man.
[Zach recording] Tell us your name
and your occupation.
My name's Ray Wyldd.
I run an empire of health
and wellness systems.
I usually like to be out
in the wilderness, chopping wood.
But when you can't, no excuses.
You do this.
- [speaking indistinctly]
- [Shawn] I think he had become
a little detached with reality.
Maybe a little bit--
well, maybe a lot a bit--
but I really don't think he thought
he was going down as hard as he did.
Health is wealth.
And I'll tell you this,
once you're healthy and you're wealthy--
[whistles] sex is so goddamn fun.
Slide through like a little snake.
Come on back like a wild anaconda.
Get riled, get tough, get wild.
[Osnos] By taking advantage
of the chaos around the pandemic,
Zach was able to put off making payments
for more than a year,
until his investors reached
a breaking point.
I sat put for way too long
without answers.
So, in February, I told Jake,
"I'm going to the FBI."
And my guess is all four of those guys
were worried about going to prison.
They lawyered up.
[Brian Michael] My practice is in the
space of white-collar criminal defense.
Typically, when someone has hired me
to come in and help them,
it's a not only complicated situation
but a high-stress situation.
I would say, in this particular instance,
they were appropriately concerned
and needing help
to try to figure out what to do.
[Loftus] Then JJMT begin an elaborate
and, frankly, beautifully orchestrated
CYA at that point.
- [Chaiklin] What is that?
- "Cover your ass."
They were protecting themselves
from downside,
while we were all suffering
from a tragedy of losing our finances.
[Osnos] One of the JJMT guys,
Joe deAlteris, told me
he woke up early one morning
before the family was awake in his house
and just broke down weeping.
"Not only do I have my own savings
wrapped up in this,
but my own parents are tied up in this."
In a sense, coming to reality
of what he had wrought.
The reason I'm sort of wary of that story
is that it sounds kind of
a little too perfect.
[Michael] You can be upset
with Joe, Jake and Matt,
but they were acting responsibly
and taking the steps
that they thought were appropriate.
We took this to the FBI
and the Justice Department.
[John Verrastro] We were contacted
by an attorney that advised
that their client had been defrauded
of over $100 million.
And from there,
I interviewed the principals at JJM
to get further information.
[Justin] I remember the phone call
that I got from Jake.
Could tell he was pretty choked up.
He's like, "I'm pretty sure this
this is a Ponzi scheme."
"No, no, man. Zach wouldn't do that.
Zach would never do that."
[inhales deeply, sighs]
No, apparently, Zach would do that.
That's when just
the whirlwind of shit started.
[Scott] Jake was keeping me in the loop.
They were working
with the government officials,
allowing Zach to continue
to have the dialogues with JJMT.
[Jake] I guess I'm just trying to
put the pieces of the puzzle together
and understand
what really is happening.
Where did our money go?
[Zach] You know, I know that
it's not good right now.
And it needs to get cleared up.
And there's tons of
accusations out there.
And again, it's-- it's the worst look
it could possibly look.
Basically,
I'm in a bad position.
Because it's-- it's me
against the world.
[Loftus] The government was able
to put together a case
against Horwitz in two months.
The JJMT fellas laid it out to 'em
on a platter.
And to be very, very clear, my guys,
they didn't engage
in any criminal conduct.
[Shawn] Plenty can look and
Monday-morning quarterback the situation.
Let me ask you this-- like, go ahead
and think about who your best friend is
and then imagine that person
perpetrating a crime against you
and their friend group in this way.
Get fucked, boys.
[Shawn] Up until this scheme
blew up in all of our faces,
none of us were looking
at our interactions with Zach as
"Is this fraudulent behavior?"
There are those that would have more of a
sinister look at Jake and his involvement.
But following this, Jake had to take
his family and move in with his parents.
Those aren't the steps that somebody
who was an active participant in the fraud
would need to do or would do, right?
I mean
[Chaiklin] Was that because
he had no money?
I mean, I I d I don't want
to speculate on that.
I don't want anything I say to hurt Jake
or be damaging to his reputation.
Jake doesn't have to apologize to me.
All of us should have been a little bit
better about doing our own due diligence.
Up to days before he was arrested,
Zach was making up stories
about why the money was delayed.
- [phone vibrating]
- [Justin] One of the last calls--
- [dings]
- Zach kept trying to avoid the call--
[line ringing]
and finally got on a call
and Jake called him out. "We know."
[Jake] They confirmed they've never even
spoken to you.
They don't know who you are.
There's no KAM account with 1inMM.
So all of the emails,
the text screenshots
All of that is a lie?
[pensive music playing]
Hello?
It was just dead silence on Zach's end.
And if he was going to disappear,
this was the moment when it would happen.
- [siren wailing in distance]
- [intriguing music playing]
[indistinct police radio transmission]
[Mallory] The banging was
literally shaking the house.
And I was screaming,
"Zach! Zach! Someone's here!"
[agent] Open the door!
We have a warrant!
♪
- [baby crying]
- [Mallory] I have my baby in my arms.
I saw guns.
I didn't want them to start shooting.
[agent] Let me see your hands.
[Mallory] And then I see Zach
being escorted out.
He's like, "Call my lawyer! I love you!"
And
I was like, "I love you."
- [dog barking]
- [indistinct police radio transmission]
[Greg] We got a phone call from Mallory.
There was a crack in her voice,
and she said, "Where's Mom?"
We didn't know what to say.
Mallory's so far away from us, and, uh,
it's not like we can hop in our car
and get to her.
♪
[Mallory] That first night after
he was arrested, I was notified
that there was gonna be
an L.A. Times article.
It was, like, a whirlwind
of being numb and confused
and try and not let my son,
who had already now
just been through so much
just see his mom
The FBI arrested
actor Zachary Joseph Horwitz
Horwitz raised over $650 million.
[man] It's Hollywood's biggest
Ponzi scheme.
I mean, it was just numbers
that were, like, inconceivable to us.
How did he get away with it for so long?
Six years.
Come on, dude.
It's in the eyes. Can't you tell that?
They're just, like, soulless eyes.
Which is why he probably ran
a good Ponzi scheme.
[Nina Kern] And people believed this?
-His friends and family did.
- Dumb, dumb, dumb ♪
What's his family thinking?
Is he lying to them, too?
[Mallory] It wasn't until
the second article came out
that Dan Levitan was quoted saying
he doesn't know who Zach Horwitz was.
I remember I read that,
and I just collapsed.
All these people,
they don't know who Zach Horwitz is,
but they've been a part of my life
for the past decade.
I invited these people to my wedding,
and now I'm reading in an article
that they don't know who he is.
To
have your whole reality rocked
to the depth of
people that I thought were real
were not real.
The reason why we moved here.
People that my husband was
in constant communication with,
stayed at their home,
that I know secrets about their life.
And it's
like a sick game that he was playing.
[Stefan] When Mallory called me,
there wasn't any more sugarcoating
anything at this point in time.
I knew that Mallory had to know
what Zach truly was.
[Mallory] I've found out some things.
I know you were cheating on me
the entire time we were together.
I know about the women
in LA and in Vegas.
I know
what you did.
And believe me--
believe me, you have fucked over
so many people
no one is protecting you anymore.
Then I left,
and I went back to Santa Claus, Indiana,
with my kids.
[Myuu playing
"Jingle Bells (Dark Piano Version)"]
[Bexxx] Everything in life is perspective.
We're all a villain and a hero
in someone's story.
There is a grand misconception
that Medusa was this evil, awful monster.
But she wasn't.
She was actually a victim.
Someone might look at me and think
I'm this villainous mistress
or something like that.
But the Zach I know and then the Zach
that did all of these horrible things
are not the same person at all.
And it feels really weird to be wondering
what was real and what wasn't.
It was like every single day
there was something new that I learned
that was untrue about this man
that I loved so much.
And I spent my entire 20s with him.
[voice breaking] I trusted him so much.
And he would look at me
and lie every single day.
♪
And I said, "What a fool I was."
[pensive music playing]
[Trudy] His lawyer kept saying, you know,
"He's innocent until proven guilty."
And Sue said that Zach was sick,
but now he was getting help
and that he was a good person
and he was a good husband
and he's a good dad.
And I had to bite my tongue.
That was a pretty
eye-opening statement.
You just got out on a million-dollar bail.
He's not acknowledging
any of his criminal behavior.
He sent her options, living options,
for her to come back to L.A.
Of course, all under their control.
♪
[Mallory] When I filed for divorce,
he ordered an ex parte,
claiming that I kidnapped the children and
they needed to be returned to California.
And so, within 24 hours,
my lawyers had to prepare
for a case to go before the judge.
I don't think he was prepared
that we would fight the way we did.
The custody battle went on
for several months,
but it felt much longer than that.
He put Trudy and I through hell.
We would get out every credit card we had.
Greg would sit with his head in his hands,
trying to figure out what we're gonna do.
And I just kept saying,
"We're not gonna give up.
We're not as weak as he thought."
[Greg] In the end,
Mallory stayed in Indiana
and so did our grandkids.
[child squealing happily]
[Mallory growling playfully]
[Mallory] Hi.
We're here.
We did it.
We did it.
Mommy did it.
[Trudy] We went through all those months
of knowing he was guilty--
he knew he was guilty-- for him,
five days later, to take a plea agreement.
[Osnos] The whole time Zach and Mallory
were fighting an expensive custody battle,
Zach claimed he was innocent,
even though he was already negotiating
a deal to plead guilty.
[judge] Mr. Horwitz,
what's your true and correct full name?
[Zach] Zachary Joseph Horwitz.
[judge] And how old are you?
[Zach] 34 years old.
[judge] Mr. Horwitz, having in mind
all that we've discussed
regarding your plea of guilty,
the rights that you will be giving up,
the maximum
sentence you may receive,
do you still want to plead guilty?
[Zach] I do, Your Honor.
[judge] Okay, Mr. Horwitz,
how do you plead to count one?
[Zach] Guilty, Your Honor.
[gavel bangs]
Zach's sentencing was on Valentine's Day.
I told the judge that he was
another Bernie Madoff,
who is a sick human being.
The pain that he caused to people
was something that
he should lose his freedom for.
[Shawn] The money that my wife and I
ended up losing in this whole thing
was money that represented
sacrifice and diligence.
Those were vacations that we didn't take
because we were choosing to save
for our future, right?
But those were vacations that he did take.
[Stefan] Zach would always tell me that
he was really happy that I never invested
because it didn't make
our relationship about business.
It was always just about fun.
Part of me is like, "Zach was a good guy
and he didn't want me to get involved,"
but fuck that.
Like, Zach would have gladly taken
my money or anyone else's money.
♪
I wish I would have caught on earlier
and did something,
but I had no idea. [sniffles]
[crying] I'm really scared
people are gonna hate me.
I really didn't know.
[shuddering breath]
I just feel so bad for all these people.
[sniffles]
[Osnos] At the sentencing,
Zach talked about the damage
that he had caused,
and he said he was haunted.
And then he asked for leniency
from the judge.
He asked that they might
let him serve a sentence short enough
that he could come out of prison
while his children were still young.
But it was pretty clear
that the judge was not persuaded.
And so the judge gave him
the maximum sentence.
Government's glad
to take Horwitz on a platter.
They got their man, case closed.
But why leave the inner circle
of the fantasyland alone?
There may have been people along the way
who may have had knowledge of this scheme
who provided information
in order to avoid prosecution.
[Chaiklin] Did Julio and Diego become
confidential informants?
[laughing]
I won't answer that one way or the other.
Yeah, I just don't want to kind of discuss
what any or any involvement
may or may not have been with them.
[Osnos] John Verrastro at the FBI
said to me,
"I can tell you that Zach was
the top of this operation.
There was nobody higher than him."
But the implication of that,
very clearly, is
there may well have been people
who were working with him
or for him in advancing this process.
[pensive music playing]
[Loftus] If Julio was spending
all day and all night
with Zach Horwitz for months at a time,
then I don't see how he would possibly
not know that this was a fantasy.
He's the only one that was involved
as intimately and as closely
with Zach than I was.
They got to be watching Julio
like a hawk still.
Like, in case there's some type
of money somewhere.
[Steven] One in a Million's own paperwork
described Julio Hallivis
as in charge of bookkeeping.
This was a fake business.
You can't be a bookkeeper for a fake
business and not know what's going on.
We don't have facts to say
that Julio's in on it based on that.
We have some things you could assume
that look pretty bad,
but we can't go around saying
that Julio's a fraudster.
Julio can maintain some deniability,
because Horwitz was very good
at forging things
and very good at the weird emails
that look like they're from somebody else.
So whenever we get close to someone,
then they say,
"Oh, no, no, it's a forgery.
He's pretending that I was in on it."
And Craig Cole seems to be
the other right-hand man.
[Craig clicking tongue]
[Loftus] He was the point man for managing
communications with SAC Advisory Group.
Craig sent out doctored bank statements
showing transactions with HBO
and One in a Million,
acting as if he was
personally dealing with HBO.
We know the bank statements were fake.
We don't know if it was Craig or Zach
that was making the statements.
But the fact that Craig wasn't
actually a shareholder
of One in a Million
probably saved him from prison.
Because since he wasn't
technically an owner
and he wasn't, like,
a signer on the bank account,
he could claim, like everybody else does,
that it's just Horwitz's lies
and that he wasn't actually involved.
I just want it to be, like, clear on film
that I fucking hate Zach.
You know what I mean?
Like, I just don't want
to come off, like
You know?
Do you think it came off that way?
I don't want to come off
like things were good.
Like, I would rip his head off if I could.
We had to call off our wedding, you know.
So we called off our wedding,
'cause we've got no money.
[chuckles] It's all gone.
[Loftus] Craig is just spreading bullshit.
Not long after Horwitz goes to prison,
Craig holds this opulent wedding.
It's like he paid someone to make
a reality TV show about his wedding.
[Craig] Eventually, we were able
to have some sort of wedding.
Just came together,
made a small backyard wedding.
[Loftus] How on earth can the guy be broke
and throwing a party like that?
♪
[Mallory] It makes me sad
for my younger self that I had no idea
I was in a narcissistic,
abusive relationship.
And I don't even know
as, like, an adult woman
what a healthy relationship feels like.
When our house was raided, I was left
with my checking account that had $100.
Going from a $6 million house
in Beverly Hills
to my parents' basement was a lot.
I just want to film this
so that I remember
what I've been put through
the last eight months.
[pensive music playing]
[Bexxx] I still have a lot of trouble
separating the Zach that I know
and then the horrible things that he did
for so long.
I really think that he thought
he was just gonna make it
so big in Hollywood
and be this great Hollywood actor
and pay everyone back.
Will I be there for him when he's out?
Yeah, of course.
But I'm trying to do
my thing in life, too.
I'm one of the very proud investors
and owners of the Peppermint Hippo.
I knew that I was gonna end up
owning clubs somehow.
During COVID,
all of these clubs were very distressed,
and so we went in and we just
started buying up all sorts of clubs.
I'm involved in eight of them so far,
and we'll probably have another one
by the end of the year.
Trying to do things the right way.
Sometimes when you hear
that a person has pleaded guilty
and gone to prison, you think, "Well,
that means that now we know everything
and that everything's been settled
and the money's all returned."
But, in fact, that's not what happened.
Zach never sat
for a full-fledged investigation
that might have allowed
the court to be able
to find every last dollar.
And so, in a sense, he went off to prison
with the secrets that he has.
- [buzzer sounds]
- [door clinking]
[Shawn] You would've thought
that Zach must have
a million dollars in cash
in a safe at his house.
He's got to. Like, why would you not?
You're just going down to zero
and leaving your wife and kids
with nothing
and just waiting for the roof to fall in?
I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
[Chaiklin] There's over $200 million
still missing.
Where do you think
that might be?
I think it might be buried in a hole
somewhere and he'll call me in 18 years
[laughing]
to run away like he always wanted to.
[laughs]
[Grouplove plays "Tongue Tied"]
He always told me I'm the one person
in the world that he trusts.
To this day, he still tells me that.
I have a very strong suspicion
he will Wolf of Wall Street
the situation somehow.
He loved that movie.
How the guy just basically
turned nothing into everything.
And even after he got thrown into jail,
made a huge comeback.
♪
Mr. Jordan Belfort!
[cheering, applause]
[Bexxx] He will Jordan Belfort
the situation somehow.
Come out with his own movie
and his own podcast about his life.
[vocalizing]
You know, one thing he said to me
that really fucking pissed me off,
he's like, "Please tell me
you're not doing a documentary.
Because you doing a documentary
would not be good for anybody."
[scoffs] You don't own
any part of me anymore.
If I want to tell a documentary
about my life and my experience, I can.
[Osnos] I have sometimes wondered
if Zach imagines
that there will be a day
when he will step out of prison,
like he did as this character
in The Gateway.
And, in a grotesque way, it may be
the actual full American story--
is that even if you're a convicted felon,
if you carry yourself like a celebrity,
you can begin to climb again.
Oh ♪
Take me to your best friend's house ♪
Going around this roundabout, oh, yeah ♪
Oh, take me to
your best friend's house ♪
I loved you then and I love you now
[vocalizing]
♪
[intriguing music playing]
♪
♪
[Chaiklin] Who do you think was pretending
to be the HBO executive
on those calls Zach arranged with JJMT?
[Mallory] I have no idea. Truly.
With Zach, I have no idea.
Could have Zach used one of his girls
to, you know, fake something? Sure.
Just somehow persuading someone,
maybe paying them, telling them,
"Can you just act like this?"
Them not thinking it's a big deal.
[Chaiklin] Do you think there's any chance
it was his mother?
No.
I don't think so.
I don't think it was his mom.
But do I feel that he's been enabled
his whole life by his mother?
Yes.
I just think he always thought his mom
would just get him out of everything.
Apparently, he's a narcissist.
And that only happens when you either have
a parent absent from your life
or a parent that's a complete coddler,
where you can do no wrong, or both.
[Steven] Zach's mom is a lot more
business savvy and finance savvy
than Zach ever was.
[intriguing music playing]
[Stefan] He wanted all the benefits of her
as, like, a financial advisor,
I guess you would say.
And he leaned on her
for a lot of resources.
But Zach was always intimidated by her.
It was just, like, a never-ending chase
to make Sue proud of him
or happy about his life.
[Sue] I had to write this down,
'cause there was, um,
a lot I needed to say.
Zach called last year and told me
he was asking Mal to marry him.
He gave me the detail, the place,
the time he planned to propose.
Yes, he had everything very planned out.
- After all, he's my son.
- [laughter]
- ♪
- [cheering, applause]
[cheering, applause fades]
[Steven] When my dad passed away,
he had a significant estate.
I think the public record is clear
that there was litigation involved
between Sue and I.
And while I'm not at liberty
to talk about my dad's estate,
the closest thing I have
to a sister, Kerrie,
had a front-row seat.
[man] Kerrie interview, take one. Mark.
[Kerrie] Zach was very much
made in his mother's image,
in that she felt like he deserved
the world and he was gonna get it.
I believe that Sue had
a very large influence
on cutting Steven out of his dad's life.
I saw it firsthand.
She was threatened by him
being the sole heir.
[Osnos] I was surprised to discover
the lawsuit involving his mother.
That unlocked a whole different chamber
in this story.
[Kerrie] Bob and Sue met at a casino
when his sister ran into Sue
in a bathroom and they were talking.
And Sue had said,
"I'm looking to meet someone,"
and she said,
"Oh, you should meet my brother.
He's recently single, and he's rich."
[Steven] My dad was not flashy with money.
[Kerrie] He was kind of
the millionaire next door
that was quiet and nobody really knew
he had a lot of money.
But Sue did,
and she wanted to live that life,
where everybody knew
they had a lot of money.
He went from an RV to a mansion.
He wanted to give her what she wanted,
so he did things that were
fairly uncharacteristic
for the Bob that we had known
before he met Sue.
[Steven] My dad and Sue were together for
four, maybe five years when he was
diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
It was hard for Steven
when his father got that diagnosis,
because Steven was in Florida
and his dad was in Indiana.
And Sue locked everything down.
Steven's partner had a lot of suspicions.
To me, it was very clear the objective
was total control of the estate.
She was taking the position of having
her family recognized as his family.
There were very few times where Bob
was kind of allowed with us alone.
Whenever we called on the phone,
it was on speakerphone
or she was on the other line listening.
Bob had been a very strong force
before the illness,
but he definitely was not the same person.
[Steven] Chemo, radiation,
stem cell transplants,
all those things wreaks havoc
on your body.
And
There were many times
that I don't think that Bob was aware
of what was going on,
even when we were in the room.
I think that he was so ill that--
I mean, he was very easily manipulated,
because you have to rely on the people
around you when you're in that situation.
Steven would receive emails,
and they were clearly not written by Bob,
and they were signed by Bob
from Bob's email account.
They were clearly not in Bob's voice.
There were emails that went
to the financial advisors
about changing the will.
But Steven had always been told
that he was heir to what Bob had built.
[Steven] The prenup
that my dad had in place
had a detailed description
of the assets of which
it was pretty obvious I was his only son
and I was the heir.
[pensive music playing]
As my dad's illness progressed, I remember
looking at him and thinking
this may be the last--
We're probably nearing the end.
[Arron] The day that Bob passed away,
I opened the closets in one of the rooms
we were staying in,
and I found every gift that we had sent
them, still boxed, hidden in the closet.
The thought of his father thinking that
we didn't remember him for Father's Day
or his birthday was really hurtful,
but it almost seemed by design.
The night of his father's passing,
Sue called a family meeting,
and she read from a handwritten
piece of paper Bob's estate and wishes.
When I left that meeting,
I told Steven, "That is
the weirdest thing I've ever seen."
It was all written by hand, and I thought,
"An estate this size? Like,
that's just not how it would be done."
[Osnos] According to
what was filed in court,
Sue Kozlowski's lawyers said,
"No, this is a case of an ordinary example
of somebody rewriting their will
after being remarried."
They said that this allegation
was false and distorted.
And then, eventually,
they reached a confidential settlement,
and we don't know
what's in that settlement.
It disappeared into a legal black hole.
Writing a lot of stories over the years,
I've become entirely
willing to believe either scenario.
[Kerrie] If you put the truth
in front of her,
Sue was very good at
making it,
"That's not really how you saw it."
I guess you'd call that gaslighting today.
[intriguing music playing]
[Mallory] When I look back now,
it's so hard for me to grasp how
he led me and so many people to believe
that he was, like,
this amazing, normal person,
because all the lies and the manipulation
and all that that was going on,
he had to go to bed with
every single night
and then wake up and do it all over again.
♪
[Doug] At this point,
it had been months since we'd been paid.
So we constantly asked Jake
what the status of our investment was,
and he was quick to give us very positive
assurances that the money is fine.
[phone line ringing]
[Zach] We've had discussions with HBO.
There's an offer on the table
that needs to be closed
immediately
that will get you
majority of your money back.
And so Jake told us
that he had just spoken to Zach
and that the money was going to be
released any day now.
Little did we know, a month later, the
perfect storm with COVID was gonna happen.
[Scott] Someone's sick. There's an audit.
Just a plethora of excuses.
[Mallory] I had a newborn baby
and a three-year-old.
My husband's company owes all this money.
[Osnos] This carefully structured life
that he had put together
was beginning to collapse.
[Mallory] He would be drinking.
And the Adderall got more and more.
Always wanting to have Julio over,
and they would be down in the movie room,
watching music videos
until, like, 4:00 in the morning.
Julio always seemed like
he needed a Xanax,
because, that guy, he would have this,
like, sadness and this, like, paranoia.
He just seemed like
he saw something coming,
I think, down the pipe.
[Mallory] I said,
"I thought we had millions of dollars.
Just take it out of our money
and give it to everyone,
'cause then we'll just, like, wait
until HBO pays us."
And he just called me a bitch
and stormed out of the house.
[door slams shut]
[tense music playing]
[Stefan] It would get quite loud
in the house.
And a big part of that was his addiction.
Between the weed, the Adderall,
the alcohol, it's like, what is reality?
And I think he lost a grip on that
long, long time ago.
Yeah.
♪
[Mallory] I was in such a robotic stage
of being this new mom
and trying to keep the peace.
It's really, really hard to get out,
because you-you fear this person
that you're in this relationship with.
[Bexxx] Zach started acting
a lot differently.
He's like, "I don't want to have sex.
I don't want to party.
I just want to be with you
and chill and have fun."
He told me, "I can't wait
until the day I can just run away.
I just want to run away with you."
♪
I never felt like
he was doing something illegal.
I just thought he was
poorly managing his business.
One, two, up.
You want to stay with it.
You want to stay fierce.
Don't let fear get inside that mind.
Don't let fear get inside that body.
You push through, even though it hurts.
You're stronger.
You know how to get through this.
You know how to push through,
'cause you're a wild man.
[Zach recording] Tell us your name
and your occupation.
My name's Ray Wyldd.
I run an empire of health
and wellness systems.
I usually like to be out
in the wilderness, chopping wood.
But when you can't, no excuses.
You do this.
- [speaking indistinctly]
- [Shawn] I think he had become
a little detached with reality.
Maybe a little bit--
well, maybe a lot a bit--
but I really don't think he thought
he was going down as hard as he did.
Health is wealth.
And I'll tell you this,
once you're healthy and you're wealthy--
[whistles] sex is so goddamn fun.
Slide through like a little snake.
Come on back like a wild anaconda.
Get riled, get tough, get wild.
[Osnos] By taking advantage
of the chaos around the pandemic,
Zach was able to put off making payments
for more than a year,
until his investors reached
a breaking point.
I sat put for way too long
without answers.
So, in February, I told Jake,
"I'm going to the FBI."
And my guess is all four of those guys
were worried about going to prison.
They lawyered up.
[Brian Michael] My practice is in the
space of white-collar criminal defense.
Typically, when someone has hired me
to come in and help them,
it's a not only complicated situation
but a high-stress situation.
I would say, in this particular instance,
they were appropriately concerned
and needing help
to try to figure out what to do.
[Loftus] Then JJMT begin an elaborate
and, frankly, beautifully orchestrated
CYA at that point.
- [Chaiklin] What is that?
- "Cover your ass."
They were protecting themselves
from downside,
while we were all suffering
from a tragedy of losing our finances.
[Osnos] One of the JJMT guys,
Joe deAlteris, told me
he woke up early one morning
before the family was awake in his house
and just broke down weeping.
"Not only do I have my own savings
wrapped up in this,
but my own parents are tied up in this."
In a sense, coming to reality
of what he had wrought.
The reason I'm sort of wary of that story
is that it sounds kind of
a little too perfect.
[Michael] You can be upset
with Joe, Jake and Matt,
but they were acting responsibly
and taking the steps
that they thought were appropriate.
We took this to the FBI
and the Justice Department.
[John Verrastro] We were contacted
by an attorney that advised
that their client had been defrauded
of over $100 million.
And from there,
I interviewed the principals at JJM
to get further information.
[Justin] I remember the phone call
that I got from Jake.
Could tell he was pretty choked up.
He's like, "I'm pretty sure this
this is a Ponzi scheme."
"No, no, man. Zach wouldn't do that.
Zach would never do that."
[inhales deeply, sighs]
No, apparently, Zach would do that.
That's when just
the whirlwind of shit started.
[Scott] Jake was keeping me in the loop.
They were working
with the government officials,
allowing Zach to continue
to have the dialogues with JJMT.
[Jake] I guess I'm just trying to
put the pieces of the puzzle together
and understand
what really is happening.
Where did our money go?
[Zach] You know, I know that
it's not good right now.
And it needs to get cleared up.
And there's tons of
accusations out there.
And again, it's-- it's the worst look
it could possibly look.
Basically,
I'm in a bad position.
Because it's-- it's me
against the world.
[Loftus] The government was able
to put together a case
against Horwitz in two months.
The JJMT fellas laid it out to 'em
on a platter.
And to be very, very clear, my guys,
they didn't engage
in any criminal conduct.
[Shawn] Plenty can look and
Monday-morning quarterback the situation.
Let me ask you this-- like, go ahead
and think about who your best friend is
and then imagine that person
perpetrating a crime against you
and their friend group in this way.
Get fucked, boys.
[Shawn] Up until this scheme
blew up in all of our faces,
none of us were looking
at our interactions with Zach as
"Is this fraudulent behavior?"
There are those that would have more of a
sinister look at Jake and his involvement.
But following this, Jake had to take
his family and move in with his parents.
Those aren't the steps that somebody
who was an active participant in the fraud
would need to do or would do, right?
I mean
[Chaiklin] Was that because
he had no money?
I mean, I I d I don't want
to speculate on that.
I don't want anything I say to hurt Jake
or be damaging to his reputation.
Jake doesn't have to apologize to me.
All of us should have been a little bit
better about doing our own due diligence.
Up to days before he was arrested,
Zach was making up stories
about why the money was delayed.
- [phone vibrating]
- [Justin] One of the last calls--
- [dings]
- Zach kept trying to avoid the call--
[line ringing]
and finally got on a call
and Jake called him out. "We know."
[Jake] They confirmed they've never even
spoken to you.
They don't know who you are.
There's no KAM account with 1inMM.
So all of the emails,
the text screenshots
All of that is a lie?
[pensive music playing]
Hello?
It was just dead silence on Zach's end.
And if he was going to disappear,
this was the moment when it would happen.
- [siren wailing in distance]
- [intriguing music playing]
[indistinct police radio transmission]
[Mallory] The banging was
literally shaking the house.
And I was screaming,
"Zach! Zach! Someone's here!"
[agent] Open the door!
We have a warrant!
♪
- [baby crying]
- [Mallory] I have my baby in my arms.
I saw guns.
I didn't want them to start shooting.
[agent] Let me see your hands.
[Mallory] And then I see Zach
being escorted out.
He's like, "Call my lawyer! I love you!"
And
I was like, "I love you."
- [dog barking]
- [indistinct police radio transmission]
[Greg] We got a phone call from Mallory.
There was a crack in her voice,
and she said, "Where's Mom?"
We didn't know what to say.
Mallory's so far away from us, and, uh,
it's not like we can hop in our car
and get to her.
♪
[Mallory] That first night after
he was arrested, I was notified
that there was gonna be
an L.A. Times article.
It was, like, a whirlwind
of being numb and confused
and try and not let my son,
who had already now
just been through so much
just see his mom
The FBI arrested
actor Zachary Joseph Horwitz
Horwitz raised over $650 million.
[man] It's Hollywood's biggest
Ponzi scheme.
I mean, it was just numbers
that were, like, inconceivable to us.
How did he get away with it for so long?
Six years.
Come on, dude.
It's in the eyes. Can't you tell that?
They're just, like, soulless eyes.
Which is why he probably ran
a good Ponzi scheme.
[Nina Kern] And people believed this?
-His friends and family did.
- Dumb, dumb, dumb ♪
What's his family thinking?
Is he lying to them, too?
[Mallory] It wasn't until
the second article came out
that Dan Levitan was quoted saying
he doesn't know who Zach Horwitz was.
I remember I read that,
and I just collapsed.
All these people,
they don't know who Zach Horwitz is,
but they've been a part of my life
for the past decade.
I invited these people to my wedding,
and now I'm reading in an article
that they don't know who he is.
To
have your whole reality rocked
to the depth of
people that I thought were real
were not real.
The reason why we moved here.
People that my husband was
in constant communication with,
stayed at their home,
that I know secrets about their life.
And it's
like a sick game that he was playing.
[Stefan] When Mallory called me,
there wasn't any more sugarcoating
anything at this point in time.
I knew that Mallory had to know
what Zach truly was.
[Mallory] I've found out some things.
I know you were cheating on me
the entire time we were together.
I know about the women
in LA and in Vegas.
I know
what you did.
And believe me--
believe me, you have fucked over
so many people
no one is protecting you anymore.
Then I left,
and I went back to Santa Claus, Indiana,
with my kids.
[Myuu playing
"Jingle Bells (Dark Piano Version)"]
[Bexxx] Everything in life is perspective.
We're all a villain and a hero
in someone's story.
There is a grand misconception
that Medusa was this evil, awful monster.
But she wasn't.
She was actually a victim.
Someone might look at me and think
I'm this villainous mistress
or something like that.
But the Zach I know and then the Zach
that did all of these horrible things
are not the same person at all.
And it feels really weird to be wondering
what was real and what wasn't.
It was like every single day
there was something new that I learned
that was untrue about this man
that I loved so much.
And I spent my entire 20s with him.
[voice breaking] I trusted him so much.
And he would look at me
and lie every single day.
♪
And I said, "What a fool I was."
[pensive music playing]
[Trudy] His lawyer kept saying, you know,
"He's innocent until proven guilty."
And Sue said that Zach was sick,
but now he was getting help
and that he was a good person
and he was a good husband
and he's a good dad.
And I had to bite my tongue.
That was a pretty
eye-opening statement.
You just got out on a million-dollar bail.
He's not acknowledging
any of his criminal behavior.
He sent her options, living options,
for her to come back to L.A.
Of course, all under their control.
♪
[Mallory] When I filed for divorce,
he ordered an ex parte,
claiming that I kidnapped the children and
they needed to be returned to California.
And so, within 24 hours,
my lawyers had to prepare
for a case to go before the judge.
I don't think he was prepared
that we would fight the way we did.
The custody battle went on
for several months,
but it felt much longer than that.
He put Trudy and I through hell.
We would get out every credit card we had.
Greg would sit with his head in his hands,
trying to figure out what we're gonna do.
And I just kept saying,
"We're not gonna give up.
We're not as weak as he thought."
[Greg] In the end,
Mallory stayed in Indiana
and so did our grandkids.
[child squealing happily]
[Mallory growling playfully]
[Mallory] Hi.
We're here.
We did it.
We did it.
Mommy did it.
[Trudy] We went through all those months
of knowing he was guilty--
he knew he was guilty-- for him,
five days later, to take a plea agreement.
[Osnos] The whole time Zach and Mallory
were fighting an expensive custody battle,
Zach claimed he was innocent,
even though he was already negotiating
a deal to plead guilty.
[judge] Mr. Horwitz,
what's your true and correct full name?
[Zach] Zachary Joseph Horwitz.
[judge] And how old are you?
[Zach] 34 years old.
[judge] Mr. Horwitz, having in mind
all that we've discussed
regarding your plea of guilty,
the rights that you will be giving up,
the maximum
sentence you may receive,
do you still want to plead guilty?
[Zach] I do, Your Honor.
[judge] Okay, Mr. Horwitz,
how do you plead to count one?
[Zach] Guilty, Your Honor.
[gavel bangs]
Zach's sentencing was on Valentine's Day.
I told the judge that he was
another Bernie Madoff,
who is a sick human being.
The pain that he caused to people
was something that
he should lose his freedom for.
[Shawn] The money that my wife and I
ended up losing in this whole thing
was money that represented
sacrifice and diligence.
Those were vacations that we didn't take
because we were choosing to save
for our future, right?
But those were vacations that he did take.
[Stefan] Zach would always tell me that
he was really happy that I never invested
because it didn't make
our relationship about business.
It was always just about fun.
Part of me is like, "Zach was a good guy
and he didn't want me to get involved,"
but fuck that.
Like, Zach would have gladly taken
my money or anyone else's money.
♪
I wish I would have caught on earlier
and did something,
but I had no idea. [sniffles]
[crying] I'm really scared
people are gonna hate me.
I really didn't know.
[shuddering breath]
I just feel so bad for all these people.
[sniffles]
[Osnos] At the sentencing,
Zach talked about the damage
that he had caused,
and he said he was haunted.
And then he asked for leniency
from the judge.
He asked that they might
let him serve a sentence short enough
that he could come out of prison
while his children were still young.
But it was pretty clear
that the judge was not persuaded.
And so the judge gave him
the maximum sentence.
Government's glad
to take Horwitz on a platter.
They got their man, case closed.
But why leave the inner circle
of the fantasyland alone?
There may have been people along the way
who may have had knowledge of this scheme
who provided information
in order to avoid prosecution.
[Chaiklin] Did Julio and Diego become
confidential informants?
[laughing]
I won't answer that one way or the other.
Yeah, I just don't want to kind of discuss
what any or any involvement
may or may not have been with them.
[Osnos] John Verrastro at the FBI
said to me,
"I can tell you that Zach was
the top of this operation.
There was nobody higher than him."
But the implication of that,
very clearly, is
there may well have been people
who were working with him
or for him in advancing this process.
[pensive music playing]
[Loftus] If Julio was spending
all day and all night
with Zach Horwitz for months at a time,
then I don't see how he would possibly
not know that this was a fantasy.
He's the only one that was involved
as intimately and as closely
with Zach than I was.
They got to be watching Julio
like a hawk still.
Like, in case there's some type
of money somewhere.
[Steven] One in a Million's own paperwork
described Julio Hallivis
as in charge of bookkeeping.
This was a fake business.
You can't be a bookkeeper for a fake
business and not know what's going on.
We don't have facts to say
that Julio's in on it based on that.
We have some things you could assume
that look pretty bad,
but we can't go around saying
that Julio's a fraudster.
Julio can maintain some deniability,
because Horwitz was very good
at forging things
and very good at the weird emails
that look like they're from somebody else.
So whenever we get close to someone,
then they say,
"Oh, no, no, it's a forgery.
He's pretending that I was in on it."
And Craig Cole seems to be
the other right-hand man.
[Craig clicking tongue]
[Loftus] He was the point man for managing
communications with SAC Advisory Group.
Craig sent out doctored bank statements
showing transactions with HBO
and One in a Million,
acting as if he was
personally dealing with HBO.
We know the bank statements were fake.
We don't know if it was Craig or Zach
that was making the statements.
But the fact that Craig wasn't
actually a shareholder
of One in a Million
probably saved him from prison.
Because since he wasn't
technically an owner
and he wasn't, like,
a signer on the bank account,
he could claim, like everybody else does,
that it's just Horwitz's lies
and that he wasn't actually involved.
I just want it to be, like, clear on film
that I fucking hate Zach.
You know what I mean?
Like, I just don't want
to come off, like
You know?
Do you think it came off that way?
I don't want to come off
like things were good.
Like, I would rip his head off if I could.
We had to call off our wedding, you know.
So we called off our wedding,
'cause we've got no money.
[chuckles] It's all gone.
[Loftus] Craig is just spreading bullshit.
Not long after Horwitz goes to prison,
Craig holds this opulent wedding.
It's like he paid someone to make
a reality TV show about his wedding.
[Craig] Eventually, we were able
to have some sort of wedding.
Just came together,
made a small backyard wedding.
[Loftus] How on earth can the guy be broke
and throwing a party like that?
♪
[Mallory] It makes me sad
for my younger self that I had no idea
I was in a narcissistic,
abusive relationship.
And I don't even know
as, like, an adult woman
what a healthy relationship feels like.
When our house was raided, I was left
with my checking account that had $100.
Going from a $6 million house
in Beverly Hills
to my parents' basement was a lot.
I just want to film this
so that I remember
what I've been put through
the last eight months.
[pensive music playing]
[Bexxx] I still have a lot of trouble
separating the Zach that I know
and then the horrible things that he did
for so long.
I really think that he thought
he was just gonna make it
so big in Hollywood
and be this great Hollywood actor
and pay everyone back.
Will I be there for him when he's out?
Yeah, of course.
But I'm trying to do
my thing in life, too.
I'm one of the very proud investors
and owners of the Peppermint Hippo.
I knew that I was gonna end up
owning clubs somehow.
During COVID,
all of these clubs were very distressed,
and so we went in and we just
started buying up all sorts of clubs.
I'm involved in eight of them so far,
and we'll probably have another one
by the end of the year.
Trying to do things the right way.
Sometimes when you hear
that a person has pleaded guilty
and gone to prison, you think, "Well,
that means that now we know everything
and that everything's been settled
and the money's all returned."
But, in fact, that's not what happened.
Zach never sat
for a full-fledged investigation
that might have allowed
the court to be able
to find every last dollar.
And so, in a sense, he went off to prison
with the secrets that he has.
- [buzzer sounds]
- [door clinking]
[Shawn] You would've thought
that Zach must have
a million dollars in cash
in a safe at his house.
He's got to. Like, why would you not?
You're just going down to zero
and leaving your wife and kids
with nothing
and just waiting for the roof to fall in?
I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
[Chaiklin] There's over $200 million
still missing.
Where do you think
that might be?
I think it might be buried in a hole
somewhere and he'll call me in 18 years
[laughing]
to run away like he always wanted to.
[laughs]
[Grouplove plays "Tongue Tied"]
He always told me I'm the one person
in the world that he trusts.
To this day, he still tells me that.
I have a very strong suspicion
he will Wolf of Wall Street
the situation somehow.
He loved that movie.
How the guy just basically
turned nothing into everything.
And even after he got thrown into jail,
made a huge comeback.
♪
Mr. Jordan Belfort!
[cheering, applause]
[Bexxx] He will Jordan Belfort
the situation somehow.
Come out with his own movie
and his own podcast about his life.
[vocalizing]
You know, one thing he said to me
that really fucking pissed me off,
he's like, "Please tell me
you're not doing a documentary.
Because you doing a documentary
would not be good for anybody."
[scoffs] You don't own
any part of me anymore.
If I want to tell a documentary
about my life and my experience, I can.
[Osnos] I have sometimes wondered
if Zach imagines
that there will be a day
when he will step out of prison,
like he did as this character
in The Gateway.
And, in a grotesque way, it may be
the actual full American story--
is that even if you're a convicted felon,
if you carry yourself like a celebrity,
you can begin to climb again.
Oh ♪
Take me to your best friend's house ♪
Going around this roundabout, oh, yeah ♪
Oh, take me to
your best friend's house ♪
I loved you then and I love you now
[vocalizing]
♪
[intriguing music playing]
♪
♪