The execs behind the MoviePass debacle are now facing criminal charges

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Mitch Lowe and Ted Farnsworth already settled with the FTC over fraudulent activity affecting MoviePass customers, but now the former heads of MoviePass and its parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), are facing criminal allegations of securities fraud and wire fraud.

The Department of Justice announced the charges today, saying false statements made by both men defrauded investors in HMNY when the execs pretended like the company’s money-losing $9.95 “unlimited” moviegoing plan had any hope of profitability.

HMNY’s own auditor cast doubt on the company’s viability in a report in 2018, but at the time, Farnsworth downplayed the advisory, telling Insider that “pretty much most” companies running at a loss would have a similar warning.

But the big problem is his claims that HMNY’s analytics prowess could somehow monetize data generated from MoviePass simply didn’t hold up: prosecutors now allege “Farnsworth and Lowe knew HMNY did not possess these technologies or capabilities to monetize MoviePass’s subscriber data or incorporate these technologies into the MoviePass application.”

Here are a few other allegations toward Farnsworth and Lowe from the press release announcing the charges:

That they falsely claimed MoviePass’s $9.95 “unlimited” plan was tested, sustainable, and would be profitable or break even on subscription fees alone.

That Farnsworth and Lowe knew MoviePass did not have non-subscription revenue streams that would make MoviePass self-sufficient or otherwise offset its losses.

Falsely claiming that MoviePass’s cost of goods was naturally declining over time as they expected.

That they allegedly directed MoviePass employees to implement numerous tactics to prevent certain subscribers from using the supposedly “unlimited” service.

The DOJ says each man is facing one count of securities fraud and three counts of wire fraud over the lies they allegedly told in “press releases, SEC filings, interviews on podcasts and on television, and in print and online media.”

MoviePass eventually shut down at the end of 2019 but is now relaunching with its original co-founder, Stacy Spikes (not named in today’s charges), who had sold a majority stake in the company to HMNY before buying it back in 2021. According to the site for the MoviePass 2.0 beta, invites will go out to people on the Chicago waitlist starting next week as it relaunches the service with three pricing tiers: $10, $20, and $30. Wisely, there’s no promise of unlimited movie viewing in the new service: “Each level will get a certain amount of credits to be able to use towards movies each month.”