Ex-Theater Agent to Serve Six Months in Jail for Defrauding Play Investors

The New York Times reports that ex-theater agent Roland Scahill received a jail sentence of six months after pleading guilty to defrauding ten investors for a fake Broadway play. The 42-year-old confessed to bilking investors for $205,000 in a scheme that took place from October 2014 and August 2015. Scahill falsely claimed he had secured the rights to the life story of opera singer Kathleen Battle and planned to produce a one-woman play titled "The Kathleen Battle Project" at the Shubert Organization's Booth Theater. He further claimed he had procured Oscar winner and Tony nominee Lupita Nyong'o (ECLIPSED) for the lead role and that he had inked a deal with Netflix to stream a performance of the show. Neither the Shubert Organization nor Ms. Nyong'o had any knowledge of the project.

In the plea agreement, Mr. Scahill confessed, "I never purchased life rights from Kathleen Battle, I never contracted with Lupita Nyong'o to star, I never procured the Booth Theater as a venue for the show, and I never had a contract with Netflix."

In addition to serving jail time, Scahill must pay back approximately $90,000 in restitution to investors. In a statement, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said, "Through his elaborate overtures to investors, Roland Scahill scammed patrons of the arts to the tune of more than $200,000. We are pleased to have brought his larcenous scheme to a grand finale."

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