E. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California
An entertainment production company president, David Ozer, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for embezzling over $400,000. The sentencing took place today under United States District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr., who also mandated that Ozer pay restitution amounting to $399,344.52.
Ozer, aged 59 and a resident of Roslyn Heights, New York, was charged in two separate federal criminal cases. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in October 2024 and an additional count in January this year.
As the president of Strong Studios Inc., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ozer was involved with the television series “Safehaven.” Between February 2023 and January 2024, he misappropriated approximately $214,486 from Ravenwood-Productions LLC's funds intended for production costs. To cover his tracks, he created fraudulent accounting records and forged a letter using his accountant’s name without authorization.
In another scheme from March 2023 to June 2024, Ozer defrauded investors related to a television series titled “Endangered,” promising them executive producer credits. Despite claiming progress on script development for the series, it was discovered that no script had been written nor any payment made to the screenwriter. This led to misappropriation of about $207,100 from multiple victims.
The FBI conducted investigations into these activities. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander B. Schwab and Matt Coe-Odess handled the prosecution.
Prosecutors stated: “[Ozer] is an experienced businessman in the entertainment industry...He knew it was wrong to embezzle funds from his company’s principal financial backer...and individual investors.”
