The entertainment and production company president has been sentenced to prison for more than a year for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from television production and fraudulent investors in various other productions.
Strong Studios, Inc, a Charlotte-based production company. David Ozer, president of the company, has been charged in two separate federal criminal cases, the US Lawyer’s Office for the Central District of California announced Tuesday.
In both cases, Ozer, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. His guilty plea was entered in October 2024 and this January.
From February 2023 to January 2024, Ozer, who produced the supernatural thriller series “SafeHaven,” scamled Ravenwood-Prodions LLC by diverting about $214,486 in funds from a bank account for production.
“To create a false appearance in which the funds he embezzled were spent on legal production costs, Ozer created fraudulent accounting records, including forged invoices, and forged letters allegedly allegedly from his accountants,” federal officials said. “In fact, Ozer’s accountant did not write a letter. The contents of the letter were false and Ozer used his accountant’s name without permission.”
These forged documents were provided to powerful studio lawyers and emailed to lawyers for Ravenwood Productions on January 3, 2024, with the Department of Justice elaborate.
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On another skate that took place between March 2023 and June 2024, the entertainment executive lended two victims in connection with another television series “Endangered,” an adaptation of a South African crime novel titled “Pirana,” written by Rudivan Rensberg. The victim was promised executive producer credits for the production.
Other, a resident of Rosslyn Heights, New York, on Long Island, also sought funding from another victim in connection with drafting the script, the DOJ added. Despite Ozer’s claim that script development is ongoing, the victim learned from the scriptwriter that no scripts were written and that they were paid by Ozer.
According to federal officials, Ozer created fraudulent documents containing forged communications from other producers to create an incorrect appearance where the funds diverted were being used for their intended purposes.
“Ozer misused funds for the three victims along with two others, diverting them for a total of around $207,100,” the official added.
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In a memorandum of the prosecutor’s ruling, they argued that despite being “an experienced businessman in the entertainment industry,” they knew what he was doing was wrong.
“[Ozer] He knew it was wrong to embezzle funds from his company’s major financial aid, and he knew it was wrong to misappropriate funds from individual investors,” the memorandum stated.
In addition to his 18-month sentence, Ozer was ordered to pay $399,344.52 by US District Judge Stanley Blumenfield Jr.
According to the DOJ, he remains free on a $25,000 bond.
In addition to the aforementioned “Safe Haven” and “Endangered” series, Ozer served as CEO of Landmark Studio Group, and, according to the IMDB page, he oversaw the production and development of projects such as “Willy’s Wonderland”, “Willy’s Wonderland”, including “Trigger Point”, and “Trigger Point”.
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He also had the hands of overseeing the development and production of three seasons of Syfy’s “Wynonna Earp,” two seasons of “Dirk Dirk,” and Netflix’s “Locke & Key” and “V-Wars.”
Ozer has held executive-level positions at multinational media companies, including executive vice president of television at Starz Media, senior vice president of domestic television at RHI Entertainment, head of global distribution at Sonar, senior vice president of DIC Entertainment, and vice president of sales at Sony Pictures Television at IMDB Page.
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