Hollywood Schemers Ordered to Pay $34M Over ‘Oz’ Movie That Never Was

— -- Two Los Angeles men were ordered to pay more than $34 million in restitution today after they were found to have tricked hundreds of Americans, many of them elderly, into dumping millions of dollars in a “Wizard of Oz” film that was never made.

David Pritchard and Christopher Blauvelt were sentenced by a California judge in February to five years and eight years in federal prison, respectively, on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and offering for sale unregistered securities. Monday Judge Manuel Real ordered Blauvelt to pay close to $20 million in restitution and reduced Pritchard’s restitution from $20 million to $14 million.

“Gigapix,” the company the two led for seven years, raised $21 million from 730 shareholders across the country. Potential investors received cold calls from the company in which they were told Gigapix was a Pixar-like animation company that was about to produce an animated “OZ3D” film. The company even provided concept art from the film to potential investors as evidence of the film’s progress.

But the movie was never made and an indictment filed against the two men by the Central District of California grand jury in June 2013, said the advertising was made of “misrepresentation, half-truths and concealed material facts.”

The indictment stated that less than 20 percent of the money raised for Gigapix was spent on promotional materials and production costs for the film or other TV series, while the remainder was spent on salaries for Pritchard, Blauvelt and on acquiring “lead lists” for telemarketers to call. As for the movie itself, investors were told 65 percent of their funds would be spent on actual promotion and production costs of “OZ3D” specifically, but only five percent actually was.

Byron McLain, a prosecutor with the Office of U.S. Attorney, said many of the victims in this case were elderly people or those far from California who were unfamiliar with the Hollywood film industry.

“We hope this case signifies that if you try to scheme ordinary Americans, you will be brought to justice,” he said.

Blauvelt’s attorney, Stephanie Ames, told ABC News her client still disputes the charges of attempting to defraud investors.

“His goal was to try to make and produce movies, and he spent a great deal of time, money and effort on trying to make that happen,” she said. “When the company went under so did Chris… By the time this went to court, he was living out of his car. He was homeless.”

Ames said an appeal has already been filed.

“I don’t think it makes a difference whether it was $1 million or $20 million,” Ames said. “For him, the reality is he isn’t going to be able to pay this. He has nothing, and with his conviction it will be difficult for him to gain employment in anything his background or qualifications have prepared him for.”

Pritchard’s attorneys did not return requests for comment for this report.