Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet will star in and produce a movie about the OneCoin Ponzi scheme titled “Fake!” for MGM, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. MGM acquired the property for producer Jennifer Todd under her first-look deal with the studio.
Scott Z. Burns will write and direct the project and produce with Todd. “Fake!” will reteam Winslett and Burns, the latter of whom wrote the screenplay for 2011’s “Contagion,” the pandemic thriller that also starred Winslett.
“Fake!” is based on the upcoming book of the same name by Jen McAdam with Douglas Thompson and tells the true-life story of McAdam and her involvement with the OneCoin Ponzi scheme. McAdam will executive produce the film adaptation as well.
According to Cointelegraph, OneCoin was founded in 2014, and the Bulgaria-based company followed the typical structure of a multilevel marketing scheme — but with a twist. There were no products or memberships to be peddled; instead, there was a cryptocurrency that the promoters of OneCoin claimed to be the next Bitcoin. The Ponzi scheme netted revenues of around $4.4 billion, although some claim that the scheme could have stolen up to $19.4 billion. McAdam was a victim of the scam and she and her friends invested and lost close to $300k.
Winslet is repped by CAA and United Agents. Burns is repped by UTA. McAdam is repped by UTA and Rachel Mills at Rachel Mills Literary. Todd is repped by Michael Gendler of Gendler & Kelly.
Deadline first reported the news.