A couple of independent film producers who helped bankroll the 2018 Sundance Film Festival hit ‘The Tale,’ starring Laura Dern, were also involved in an elaborate movie-investment scam that bilked investors out of $60 million, say authorities.
Jason Van Eman, founder and CEO of WeatherVane Productions, and his partner Ben McConley, were alleged to have worked with a Wells Fargo employee, Bejamin Rafael, who provided bank emails to convince victims who complained about delays on their returns that they would eventually get their money.
In the meantime, the trio who were charged and arrested by the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, were enjoying the high life with the funds they had kept for themselves, according to a report of the fraud.
Independent film producer Jason Van Eman, founder and CEO of WeatherVane Productions, is alleged to have participated in an elaborate scheme to defraud potential movie investors
Ben McConley (pictured), who partnered with Jason Van Eman on bankrolling film productions, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wife fraud for his role in bilking investors of millions. He faces up to 20 years in prison, say authorities
Van Eman and McConley helped bankroll the 2018 Sundance Film Festival hit ‘The Tale,’ starring Laura Dern (pictured)
‘Throughout the course of the charged scheme, McConley, Van Eman, and Rafael used stolen money to purchase luxury automobiles, personal watercraft, real estate, jewelry, home furnishings, designer clothes, hotel accommodations, and private and commercial air travel.’ wrote the US attorney in the account obtained by DailyMail.com.
The Justice Department says 30-year-old Rafael admitted Wednesday in Miami to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and McConley, 37, pleaded guilty to the same charge last week.
They each face up to 20 years in prison.
Van Eman remains scheduled for trial in February. He did not immediately respond when DailyMail.com reached out.
The producer is still listed as the top executive on WeatherVane’s website, which boasts the company has worked with major movie makers, including MGM, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Orion, HBO, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and the Weinstein Company.
As for actors, WeatherVane claims collaborations with almost 40 big Hollywood names. They include Natalie Portman, Cynthia Nixon, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Kingsley, David Arquette, Ashley Judd, Tim Roth, Pierce Brosnan, Dern and others.
Working with that kind of talent, and producing films like ‘The Tale,’ the producers had credibility to attract investors.
Van Eman and McConley, according to the US Attorney, ‘held themselves out as film producers and financiers’ and ‘offered to provide financing to investors and producers seeking funds to produce motion pictures, theater performances, and other projects.’
McConley sits in a Ferrari in pictures posted on Instagram. He and his co-conspirators is alleged to have used money bilked from investors to purchase luxury automobiles, personal watercraft, real estate and other high-priced items, according to the a US attorney
In exchange for cash, ‘McConley would match the contribution and use the combined funds to secure financing from financial institutions in South Florida and elsewhere,’ writes the US Attorney’s office in its report of the scheme.
What investors didn’t know, according to authorities, was that McConley and Van Eman were having the sign false and fraudulent ‘funding agreements,’ that guaranteed their cash contributions or loans would be ‘matched,’ dollar-for-dollar by McConley.
McConley and Van Eman promised victims money would be held in a secure bank account and would not be transferred without the victims’ consent.
Instead, the money tansfers ended up in accounts that were actually controlled by ‘McConley and his co-conspirators.’ The funding agreements allowed McConley and Van Eman to apply for credit lines that required money held in a secure bank account as collateral.
Instead, investors got false and fraudulent short-term loan agreements with third-party lenders who were willing to provide low-interest bridge loans to McConley and Van Eman on behalf of investors and producers, according to an indictment.
Rafael’s role was to let the victims know, using his Wells Fargo email account and bank stationery, that their money had been matched and that credit line applications were made. Authorities say his assurances were bogus, and that he continued using his Wells Fargo email to help carry out the scheme even after the bank fired him in 2015.
A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo did not have an immediate response when DailyMail.com reached out Thursday.
In that same year, investors started taking notice they were being bilked and started filing lawsuits, catching the attention of federal authorities.
Some said they had put up as much as $1.55 million to fund various film projects, including ‘Inside Game,’ a a drama based on true events starring Will Sasso and Scott Wolf about an NBA referee and a bookie’s betting scam, reports IndieWire.com.
McConley’s WeatherVane Productions claims it has collaborated with almost 40 big Hollywood names
‘Jane Got A Gun’, which reunites Star Wars actors Natlie Portman and Ewan McGregor is among the films backed by McConley’s WeatherVane Productions
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Paul Martino alleged the men took him for $1.25million that he thought was going to back the Randall Batinkoff-directed film. Martino’s 818 Media Productions sued the trio, WeatherVane, and Wells Fargo, and settled with the bank out of court in 2016.
Van Eman and McConley had their fair share of low budget productions, including ‘Camp Cold Brook’ and ‘The Sound’, a 2017 supernatural feature starring Christopher Lloyd, who is better known for playing Doc Brown in the ‘Back to the Future’ film series.
But the producers began raising their profile with projects like The Tale, which was purchased by HBO at Sundance and landed Dern an Emmy nomination for her performance in writer-director Jennifer Fox’s memoir about surviving childhood sexual abuse.
An industry source told IndieWire that WeatherVane had built up its reputation in Hollywood to the point references from well-regarded agents and producers started coming in. ‘Up until a year ago, I was still hearing their name,’ the source said.
Van Eman backed projects at Nancy Criss’ Nandar Entertainment, a production house that makes family and faith-based movies including ‘Fishes ‘n Loaves.’
Criss told IndieWire that Van Eman had come through with his promised matches, until one day he didn’t. Van Eman was supposed to provide financing for a Nandar project, but a year has passed and the production company has yet to see any money. Plus, the matching investor remains out a large sum.
Criss said she suspects Van Eman’s smaller investments in her projects were used to bolster his reputation.
‘I do feel like we were a pawn in what he was setting up long-term,’ she said in an interview.
Indeed, after backing several Nandar projects, the Van Eman and McConley partnered with the producers ‘A Quiet Passion,’ the 2016 Emily Dickinson biopic starring Cynthia Nixon.
Sol Papadopoulos, producer on the Terence Davies-directed film, said he thought Van Eman had been thoroughly vetted when agreements were made for financing the movie. However, Papadopoulos said he and another colleague had to chase down the ‘promised funds,’ he said to IndieWire in an email.
‘We got a lot of bank speak to explain the delays. Jason was convincing and in his world he was doing everything he could to get us the funds,’ Papadopoulos said.
The film ‘Trafficked@ starring Ashley Judd also had backing from McConley’s WeatherVane Productions, according to the company’s website
The excuses were similar to ones described in a federal indictment, that blamed the holdups on bank ‘compliance’ issues. Papadopoulos said the entire sum eventually did come in, but not all at once, and the producers were forced to take out a bridge loan to keep the cameras rolling.
A year after the film’s release, the producers said they had to return to Van Eman again for funding on an Oscar campaign for Nixon. That apparently was enough to get funding the next day, Papadopoulos said.
Court documents reviewed by Indiewire allege Van Eman and McConley relied on new investor money to pay settlements and other legal expenses, and that they even hired a company to scrub negative information about the duo from online sites.
They even put out press releases to do damage control. One 2017 release says WeatherVane and McConley’s investment firm, Forrest Capital Partners, had settled a dispute with a low-budget production firm.
‘As WeatherVane Productions and Forrest Capital Partners have moved through the muddy waters of financing films for the past five years with a true second money match investment, it has not come without hiccups from all sides of the production,’ the release, which remains online among others, states.
Van Eman and McConley had their fair share of low budget productions, including ‘The Sound’, a 2017 supernatural feature starring Christopher Lloyd, who is better known for playing Doc Brown in the ‘Back to the Future’ film series