Kevin Spacey Reveals Film Created With Alleged Crypto Ponzi Schemer

Kevin Spacey unveiled his latest comeback project at the Venice Film Festival this weekend—an intricate sci-fi film starring, produced, and written by a Russian man accused by the U.S. government of running a crypto Ponzi scheme.  

The film, “Holigaurds Saga—The Portal of Force,” was directed by Spacey, from a script written by Vladimir “Lado” Okhotnikov, a co-founder of Ethereum decentralized finance app Forsage.

In 2022, the SEC sued Forsage’s founders, including Okhotnikov, for engaging in a scheme to defraud investors of over $300 million, among other charges. Variety first reported the connection.

The following year, the Department of Justice charged Okhotnikov and his partners for running a “global Ponzi and pyramid scheme”, which federal prosecutors touted, at the time, as the first criminal fraud case in U.S. history “involving a DeFi Ponzi scheme.”

The DOJ has alleged that while Forsage promoted itself as a complex and lucrative decentralized matrix project, the project instead hinged on smart contracts on Ethereum, Tron, and BNB Chain that would automatically divert funds from new Forsage investors to earlier Forsage investors. 

The DOJ said over 80% of investors lost money investing in the project. Okhotnikov has repeatedly denied claims that Forsage intentionally defrauded its customers. 

In a YouTube video posted shortly after the SEC announced its charges against him, Okhotnikov said Forsage was not a scam because “real scams can never win people’s hearts.”

No court date has yet been set for Okhotnikov’s criminal case. The tech founder resides in Dubai, where he remains outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

This past weekend, the cast and crew of “The Portal of Force” gathered in Venice for an elaborate gala unveiling the film’s trailer. The evening featured a speech from Spacey, an opera singer, and a costumed troupe of two dozen Georgian dancers, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“The Portal of Force” is intended to be the first of a trilogy of films depicting an epic conflict between two ancient supernatural species, the Holiguards and the Statiguards, which is upended when one side uses a cosmic portal to contact an ancient force known as the Prime. The film stars Spacey alongside Dolph Lundgren, Tyrese Gibson, and Eric Roberts.

The movie marks the first Spacey has directed since 2004. It is one of a number of projects the Oscar-winning actor, who withdrew from filmmaking after facing allegations of sexual misconduct in 2017, has embarked on since being acquitted on sexual assault charges by a London jury in 2023.

In a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post, Okhotnikov said he wrote the film in part to reflect his libertarian worldview, and examine the eternal struggle between conformity and freedom. 

The entrepreneur is currently focused on a metaverse wellness startup, Holiverse, which promises to one day virtually simulate users’ bodies by integrating “various products, biohacking, genetics, creativity, and self-development,” and, by doing so, potentially extend human lifespans.