Businessman convicted of embezzling $260,000 to pay for event at Coachella festival
A former corporate executive was convicted this week of embezzling $260,000 from his company to pay for an event he produced at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, federal prosecutors said.
Khalid Itum, 43, was an executive with MoviePass Inc. from 2017 to 2019, according to the indictment against him. The company made a splash by charging a flat monthly fee to subscribers who could see as many movies as they wanted in theaters, but its business model quickly failed.
A jury found Itum guilty Thursday of two counts of wire fraud, but acquitted him of two counts of money laundering, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Itum and his own production and marketing company, Kaleidoscope Productions LLC, borrowed money to produce a promotional event at the 2017 Coachella festival. MoviePass wasn't involved, yet Itum submitted "sham invoices" to its parent company, Helios & Matheson Analytics (HMNY), so he could repay the lenders.
Neither the indictment nor a verdict announcement from prosecutors gives details of the event Itum's company held at Coachella.
"To conceal the scheme to defraud, defendant Itum falsely represented to HMNY’s independent auditor that Kaleidoscope had been used as a payment vehicle for MoviePass expenses from Coachella 2018," the indictment reads. "In executing the fraudulent scheme described above, defendant Itum caused HMNY losses of approximately $260,000."
Itum, who lives in Hollywood, is scheduled to be sentenced April 29 in federal court in Los Angeles. His attorney listed in court records could not immediately be reached Friday.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Ex-MoviePass executive guilty of embezzling to pay for Coachella event
