In a “stranger-than-fiction” case, in the words of one federal prosecutor, authorities arrested a Long Island man and charged him with defrauding an unspecified Connecticut real estate company of $750,000 ”“ and cheating producers of a Broadway show out of $60,000 as well.
Mark Hotton, 46, was arrested Monday, Oct. 15 at his West Islip, N.Y. residence. Prosecutors accused him of dangling the prospect of $5.5 million in financing commitments in exchange for commissions and fees.
“Hotton concocted a cast of characters to invest in a major musical ”“ investors who turned out to be deep-pocketed phantoms,” said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a prepared statement. “To carry out the alleged fraud, Hotton faked lives, faked companies, and even staged a fake death, pretending that one imaginary investor had suddenly died from malaria.”
In January 2012, the producers for the Broadway show “Rebecca ”“ The Musical” Â realized they were $4 million short of their capital goals and began looking for new ways to raise the money. In February, the company entered into an agreement with Hotton’s TM Consulting Inc. to help raise funds, with Hotton claiming he had lined up financing from multiple investors in the United Kingdom whom according to prosecutors did not exist.
In the case of the Connecticut real estate fraud, prosecutors allege that beginning in September 2011, Hotton agreed to help the president of an unnamed real estate company obtain financing for various business ventures from California investors, again charging fees and carrying on the deception through this month.
