\t\t\t\tThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against three men accusing them of defrauding investors in a project that was supposed to build the largest movie studio on the continent in Georgia. They are: Matthew T. Mellon, Manu Kumaran, and Roger Miguel.<\/p>\n
According to the regulator, Kumaran, the ex-chairman, CEO and founder of movie production company Moon River Studios, previously called Medient Studios, and his CEO successor Jake Shapiro issued misleading and false statements in corporate filings and press releases. Among their alleged claims is that construction was already happening and there were already projected dates for when the studio would be running even though the two men knew that they didn\u2019t have the money to start building the \u201cStudioplex.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two men and Roger Miguel, who was the CEO of Fonu2, are accused falsifying and backdating promissory notes in a scam to put out common stock in return for financing. Fonu2 operated under Moon River Services,\u00a0\u00a0Even though the movie studio never became a reality the three men allegedly became rich because of their scam. For example, Shapiro is accused of misappropriating company money for his own spending, including a nearly million-dollar home, and Kumaran allegedl spent about $1700 of company money daily for his travels and personal spending.<\/p>\n