Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced today that an East Greenwich man has been found guilty in Providence County Superior Court of defrauding a British investor of $100,000 in a scheme centered on producing a film project based on the 1990’s HBO series “Tales from the Crypt.”
On October 3, 2023, following a two-day jury trial before Superior Court Justice Luis M. Matos, a jury found John Santilli, 49, guilty of one count of obtaining money under false pretenses, over $10,000. The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on December 8, 2023.
At trial, the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that in 2018, the defendant defrauded an investor from the United Kingdom out of $100,000 and spent large sums of the investment money at various regional casinos.
“This case is a compelling example of something that Rhode Islanders deal with every day,” said Attorney General Neronha. “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. And as always, I want to thank the Rhode Island State Police for their partnership in investigating this case and bringing the defendant to justice.”
On January 14, 2020, the Rhode Island State Police initiated an investigation following a report from the victim’s attorney alleging the defendant had defrauded her client of $100,000 in a movie production deal gone wrong. The defendant has previously produced films.
Investigators determined that in 2018, the victim entered into a contract with the defendant 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. The victim wired the defendant approximately $100,000 in seed-funding to begin organization of the film project.
After time elapsed with no reported progress on the production of the film, the victim reached out to friends in the film industry and eventually discovered the project was fraudulent.
Investigators reviewed copies of the defendant’s bank records that revealed that shortly after the victim’s money was deposited, the defendant transferred a portion of the funds from his Aloris Entertainment, LLC account to his personal banking accounts. The bank records also revealed that the defendant 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. Moreover, investigators could not find any expenditures related to the production of a movie.
Based on their findings, investigators obtained an arrest warrant for the defendant and took him into custody on June 17, 2020.
“I commend the investigative efforts of our Troopers and the Attorney General’s Office for holding this defendant accountable,” said Colonel Darnell S. Weaver. “The Rhode Island State Police and its Financial Crimes Unit is committed to protecting the people of Rhode Island and elsewhere from this type of criminal behavior.”
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