As if the music industry couldn't be spiraling downward further, a new Madoff-esque player has been indicted for defrauding investors in what he claimed to be high-yield investment opportunities for a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Ray Liotta.
Randy Chortkoff of Delta Groove Music is under arrest for selling an investment that didn't exist.
Securities and Exhange special agent Timothy Delaney claimed that Chortkoff's opportunities were "straight up fraud" and could land him in prison for 20 years--if convicted.
"[Chortkoff] was the one in charge of finding the investors and getting their money," Delaney cited.
"The people thought they were investing in the making of a movie. In reality they were funding the criminals' lifestyle."
According to a 2008 SEC filing, Chortkoff was the subject of a cease-and-desist ordered issued by the California Department of Corporations for his involvement in an unregistered offer and sale of securities for Big Sky Motions, LLC, of which Chortkoff had ownership shares.
Chortkoff wrote on his Facebook, "I would like to thank the friends who know me and know that I am and have been an honest guy with integrity for their kind words of support."
"The labels will continue to function normally and the music will continue to be of the highest quality and released as scheduled," his post continued.
But the artists on Delta Groove should surely be concerned, as their label head may have misled them regarding their own contracts and royalty commissions.
In short, guilty or not, Chortkoff should resign immediately. And if he is found guilty by a jury of his peers, he should be made an example of.
To wit, here's a band the Chortkoff may have screwed with his American greed.
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