Coming soon: an alleged crypto scammer’s Hollywood franchise

Editor’s note: The Coin Laundry is a cross-border investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists spanning 10 months of reporting with 37 media partners, including Tech in Asia (TIA), in 35 countries. TIA’s Elyssa Lopez contributed to this story. This report was edited for length and clarity, and in accordance with TIA’s standards.

On a mild August evening, as Hollywood stars paraded down the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival, Kevin Spacey was across the lagoon at the legendary Hotel Cipriani. He arrived in the courtyard for a private party to showcase scenes from his latest film to a handpicked audience of about 40.

Dressed in a red velvet blazer, Spacey posed for photos alongside his producer, a woman in a shimmering silver gown, before settling in to watch the trailer for Holiguards Saga — The Portal of Force, a supernatural action thriller that he stars in and directed.

For the Oscar-winning actor, the stakes were high: momentum for a potential comeback after sexual misconduct allegations derailed his career, leaving him teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

For the film’s creator, Vladimir Okhotnikov, a Russian entrepreneur accused of cryptocurrency fraud, the stakes were even higher: an entrée to Hollywood and a bold stunt to draw in investors.

Okhotnikov, 47, co-wrote The Portal of Force based on a semi-autobiographical comic book. In February, he told a crowd of supporters in Dubai that the Spacey adaptation would “bring a global audience, driving our successful metaverse, attracting countless users to our games, tokens and initiatives.”

Okhotnikov, who goes by Lado, is also the alleged mastermind behind a series of cryptocurrency scams including one called Holiverse, which shares its name with his evolving cinematic universe.

US prosecutors have accused him of running an international Ponzi and pyramid scheme that used a cryptocurrency investment platform called Forsage, which was rigged to steal at least US$340 million from investors between 2020 and 2022.

The rise of blockchain technology – and the speed and anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions – has enabled Okhotnikov to lure investors with far-fetched promises of trustworthy opportunities.

Spacey did not respond to requests for comment by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Journalists in the US and Europe – particularly Germany, Portugal, Ukraine, and Georgia – uncovered new details of Okhotnikov’s business dealings as part of The Coin Laundry, an investigation by ICIJ in collaboration with 37 media partners including Tech in Asia.

Forsage relied on smart contracts – self-executing agreements tied to tokens on a blockchain that automatically perform predefined actions when conditions are met. They are widely used in peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and generally operate outside the constraints and protections of traditional finance.

According to US prosecutors, Okhotnikov allegedly manipulated the smart contracts underpinning Forsage to siphon away investors’ money, duping people instead of making them millionaires.

Fast and furious

Authorities disagreed

Tbilisi days

A magical year

To the moon

He added that the deal fell through when Gavrilova sent him back an edited copy of their agreement that said, “The source of moneys [sic] is Lado Okhotnikov.”

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