Smug fraudster and MoviePass mastermind Ted Farnsworth finally faces justice after years of exploiting investors' dreams – but his potential 25-year sentence feels light for someone who made a career of destroying trust and retirement accounts.
The 62-year-old serial scammer, who cringingly describes himself as a "financier, entrepreneur, and consummate disrupter" pleaded guilty this week to brazenly defrauding investors not once, but twice – first through MoviePass's infamous "$9.95 unlimited movies" scheme, then astonishingly repeating his con at Vinco Ventures after that company inexplicably hired him as CEO in 2022. His pattern was as destructive as it was predictable: pump up stock prices with lies, cash out personally, and leave ordinary investors holding worthless shares.
"Theodore Farnsworth's plans and promises for MoviePass seemed too good to be true — they were in fact part of a securities fraud scheme," said FBI Assistant Director James E. Dennehy. The reality was even uglier: while publicly boasting about MoviePass's bright future, Farnsworth directed staff to secretly block their most loyal customers from using the service they'd paid for. His arrogant 2018 interview with Screen Rant, where he claimed finances were his "least challenging" concern while the company imploded, perfectly captures the shameless arrogance of a man who saw other people's money as his personal piggy bank.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible said Farnsworth "repeatedly lied to the public to artificially inflate these companies' stock prices, defraud investors, and enrich himself and his co-conspirators."
The irony is that while Farnsworth faces a maximum of 25 years behind bars, many of his victims will spend far longer trying to rebuild the retirement savings and investments his schemes destroyed. In an era when faith in financial markets is already fragile, predators like Farnsworth do damage that extends far beyond their immediate victims – they make the world a much uglier place. But in the world of late-stage capitalism, Farnsworth will continue to command respect. How much you want to bet he can still nab a last minute reservation at n/naka?
Previously:
• Share price for MoviePass drops $132, now trades at 5¢
• RIP MoviePass (again)
• Movie Pass is gearing up for its return
