AMERICAN actor Zach Avery was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in Los Angeles yesterday for allegedly masterminding a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars, US authorities said.

Avery, whose real name is Zachary Horwitz, told investors his company 1inMM Capital would buy film distribution rights and license them to Netflix and HBO but in fact had “no business relationship with either company”, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).