He offered to reboot 'Tales from the Crypt.' Now he's been convicted of stealing $100,000

PROVIDENCE – A Rhode Island filmmaker has been convicted of bilking a British investor out of $100,000 that the investor sent him to start production of a film based on HBO's "Tales from the Crypt."

Instead, John Santilli, 49, an East Greenwich man credited with producing several movies, spent "large sums of the investment money" at Twin River and other casinos, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said in a news release.

After a two-day trial, a Superior Court jury convicted Santilli on Oct. 3 of one count of obtaining money under false pretenses, over $10,000, Neronha said. Santilli is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 8.

In a separate case brought in Los Angeles, Santilli in October 2022 pleaded guilty to federal charges that he defrauded investors out of more than $4.2 million in connection with a stage show in Las Vegas. The show, "Magic Mike Live," was based on movies about the life of a male stripper.

More: East Greenwich film producer indicted in alleged `Magic Mike' investment scheme

'Tales from the Crypt' scam

In the "Tales from the Crypt" case, the Rhode Island State Police launched an investigation in January 2020 after the victim's attorney reported that Santilli had defrauded her client out of $100,000 in a movie deal, according to Neronha.

Investigators found that in 2018, the victim entered into a contract with Santilli and his company, Aloris Entertainment, LLC, which stipulated that the victim would finance the defendant’s remake of the HBO series “Tales from the Crypt” for $350,000, Neronha said. The victim wired the defendant about $100,000 in seed funding to begin organization of the film project, he said.

According to the movie website IMDb, Santilli has been credited as a producer of several movies, including executive producer of the 2020 comedy "Bill and Ted Face the Music," and co-producer of 2019's "Vault," based on Rhode Island's $30 million Bonded Vault heist in 1975.

"Tales from the Crypt" was a horror anthology that ran on HBO from 1989 to 1996, according to IMDb.

What Santilli did with the money

After time passed with no reported progress on the film, the victim contacted friends in the film industry and eventually discovered the project was fraudulent, Neronha said.

Investigators reviewed copies of Santilli's bank records and found that shortly after the victim’s money was deposited, Santilli transferred some of the money from his Aloris Entertainment account to his personal banking accounts, according to Neronha.

The bank records also revealed that Santilli withdrew money from the Aloris accounts at Twin River Casino, Foxwoods Casino and Mohegan Sun Casino on several different occasions between April 2018 and September 2018, Neronha said.

Investigators could not find any spending related to the production of a movie; Santilli was arrested on June 17, 2020.

Neronha said, "This case is a compelling example of something that Rhode Islanders deal with every day. Whether it’s swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from an overseas investor, or a simple email solicitation to an unsuspecting victim, scammers are always finding new, increasingly sophisticated ways to steal from hard-working folks. I’m grateful that justice was served in this case, and hope it serves as a reminder to Rhode Islanders to stay vigilant."

Special Assistant Attorney General John Malloy and Sgt. Matthew P. McGuire of the Rhode Island State Police led the investigation and prosecution of the case, according to Neronha.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI filmmaker convicted of fraud in 'Tales from the Crypt' reboot