Solly and Moise Vanounou thought they were set for a comfortable retirement.
They had socked away hundreds of thousands of dollars, the fruit of Solly’s career in telecom sales, and Moise’s work for the same company maintaining machines that produced paper bags.
And they were making an excellent return on their savings, thanks largely to a man named Jason Cloth.
Cloth founded a private lending company called Creative Wealth Media Finance that loaned money to big Hollywood TV and film productions by pooling investors’ funds. He went on to back the billion-dollar blockbuster hit “Joker,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, and “Licorice Pizza,” which landed three Oscar nominations in 2022. He had executive producer credit on both.
In 2014, Solly, now 73, and Moise, now 80, first met Cloth, who was a friend of their daughter. They trusted him and they were impressed by his roster of wealthy clients. Over time, they invested $800,000 — their entire nest egg — with his company. For years, the couple received monthly returns that amounted to as much as $8,000 — until, suddenly, they didn’t.
When the payments stopped in 2023, they asked for their money back. But they say all they got were excuses and promises. Then, in November of that year, Cloth’s company, Creative Wealth, collapsed.
Now, the Vanounous fear their life savings are gone for good.
Solly and Moise are among dozens of investors across Canada and the U.S. who saw their money vanish in what the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) alleges was a Ponzi-like scheme orchestrated by Cloth.
According to an OSC filing, between 2013 and 2022, Cloth and Creative Wealth raised over $500 million from more than 500 investors. The scheme eventually “became unsustainable,” according to the OSC, leading to Creative Wealth’s bankruptcy.
Cloth maintains his innocence and told the Star that Creative Wealth failed because the company it partnered with, Bron Studios, went bankrupt and took Cloth down with it.
But the walls may be closing in around Cloth.
Toronto Police recently confirmed to the Star that their financial crimes unit has launched an investigation related to the OSC’s allegations. And the OSC itself could soon issue a penalty.
On May 19, the regulatory agency will begin arguing the merits of the case against Cloth and Creative Wealth before the Capital Markets Tribunal. If the tribunal rules against him, Cloth could be barred from trading permanently and fined up to $1 million for each breach of Ontario securities law. He could also be forced to pay back any funds obtained as a result of non-compliance.
The Vanounous have given up hope they’ll ever get their money back, but say they believe their story can serve as a warning to other investors.
Meanwhile, they’re living off their Old Age Security pension and a meagre savings account. They’ve already sold a car to make ends meet, and they worry they might soon be forced to sell their home in Quebec too.
Solly has started seeing a psychiatrist to help deal with the loss and is now on antidepressants.
“He told me he’s going to take care of me like he’s taking care of his mother,” she said, speaking of Cloth. “I wish he could see me.”
The fall of Creative Wealth
Cloth established Creative Wealth in Toronto in 1992, partnering with Merchant Bank to provide financing for more than 40 film and TV productions.
In September 2014, he joined B.C.-based Bron Studios as a financial and investment manager. They raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the film industry from pension plans, investment managers and high net worth individuals.
Along with “Joker” and “Licorice Pizza,” Cloth helped finance “Greyhound,” starring Tom Hanks, and the 2019 drama “Bombshell,” which featured Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman.
He was dubbed one of the “biggest private financiers” in the industry by Variety and the Financial Times.
But in 2023, everything changed. Bron filed for bankruptcy that summer, just before Creative Wealth collapsed. The studio said it was facing challenges related to the pandemic and the Writers Guild of America strike, which saw more than 11,000 writers picket for months.
Then, in March 2025, the OSC announced its allegations of fraud against Cloth and Creative Wealth, following several lawsuits in the U.S. that made similar accusations.
According to the OSC probe, Cloth and Creative Wealth were using some of the funds raised for purposes that were not disclosed to investors.
Those purposes included a $50-million loan to a real estate developer for a townhouse construction project in Kingston, Ont. As of 2023, most of the loan had not been repaid, according to the watchdog.
Creative Wealth was also using money from new investors to deliver “returns” to earlier investors without their knowledge, in classic Ponzi-scheme fashion, according to the OSC.
In an interview with the Star, Cloth said he could not comment on the OSC’s allegations, because the enforcement proceeding is ongoing.
“I can’t discuss any of that,” he said. “All I can tell you is we had collateral from Bron Studios for all of our loans.”
Cloth alleged there was “pervasive fraud” happening at Bron. He maintained that although many of the movies produced by the studio appeared successful, they weren’t actually profitable.
“We financed a studio that made all of these movies. The movies were unsuccessful. If they’re unsuccessful, we don’t get paid by the studio. If we don’t get paid by the studio, we can’t repay our investors,” he said. “Bron Studios screwed thousands of people.”
An affidavit from July 2023 sworn by Aaron Gilbert, the former head of Bron, lists Creative Wealth as one of the company’s largest lenders. Gilbert did not respond to multiple requests from the Star to comment on Cloth’s allegations.
The OSC alleges that, since January 2018, Cloth has received at least $31 million from Creative Wealth through payments to companies controlled by Cloth or for his own benefit.
Cloth told the Star that all loan agreements included loan fees and he “didn’t take anything that wasn’t disclosed to everybody.”
Florida investor loses millions
Robert Harris wanted to invest in the movie business because it seemed like a unique opportunity. He met Cloth through a mutual connection, someone he says he trusted.
Besides, “Cloth was a partner in Bron Studios. Bron was having huge success,” Harris told the Star. “Their names were all over the media for financing major projects. They didn’t look like scumbags.”
After he had a positive experience as an investor in “Bombshell,” he continued to invest with Cloth in the making of “Fatherhood,” starring Kevin Hart.
“That one also went like clockwork,” he said. “Then, there were a bunch of other projects that came up and I went into a lot of them all at once.”
Eventually, the returns stopped coming and his efforts to withdraw his funds hit a wall.
“He said, ‘within a month you guys are going to have all your money,’” Harris recalled Cloth telling investors over a Zoom call. “And then a month would go by and he’d say ‘they’re waiting for one more signature.’ It was always just around the corner.”
In February 2023, Harris filed a lawsuit in a Florida court against Creative Wealth and Cloth.
In the suit, Harris accused Cloth of making a series of “misrepresentations” to induce him to invest more than $6 million in a TV show called “The Pathway,” a seven-part documentary series about high school students chasing their NBA dreams. The first episodes aired on TNT in April, 2022, but captured little attention.
A jury found that Cloth defrauded Harris, ordering him to pay $19.6 million in damages last June. Cloth did not appear at the trial.
Harris says he has “not gotten a penny.”
“The thing that I think really hurts me about this whole process is that my entire life I was really quite conservative in what I did,” he added. “I would never do anything like this again.”
Cloth denied that he committed financial fraud and said that he would be relitigating the case in Ontario. He said he does not intend to pay Harris. “Robert Harris invested directly with Bron, never sent us a dime. We literally had nothing to do with it.”
He added he did not appear at trial because his lawyer “couldn’t make it that day” and he did not want to represent himself.
“Had the Florida judge allowed my lawyers a one-month continuance — that’s all they asked for — then I wouldn’t be in this mess.”
‘I feel horrible for everybody’
The Vanounous still remember when they first met Cloth at their daughter’s house. Cloth would waltz in looking tall and handsome in a sports jacket, his shirt opened slightly at the top, they said.
Solly recalls him stopping by the daughter’s house on one occasion in a white Mercedes convertible.
“I looked through the windows and I said, ‘oh my God, you have to let me drive it.’ He said, ‘No problem. Here’s the key.’”
During those encounters, Cloth talked about what he did for a living and eventually extended a tantalizing offer to the middle-class couple: to join wealthy private backers and make a killing in the movie industry by investing in his up-and-coming company.
The Vanounous admit they didn’t fully understand what Creative Wealth did, but the investment returns looked good and, most importantly, Cloth had earned their daughter’s trust.
Every once in a while, the couple would send Creative Wealth cheques worth tens of thousands of dollars. And every month, the company would send installments of an annual return that amounted to 12 per cent of their total investment.
In hindsight, said Solly, it all was “too good to be true.”
Asked to comment on Solly’s loss, Cloth said, “Well, of course it’s heartbreaking, but what am I supposed to do?”
“I feel horrible for everybody, but really, what am I supposed to do? We were left holding the bag to the tune of like $350 million of losses,” he added, referring to how much Creative Wealth lost from the Bron films.
He later emphasized that the Vanounous were paid a high rate of return for many years, arguing that they were able to recoup some of their invested principal.
“Nobody took their $800,000 and didn’t give them anything for it.”
Despite the dozens of investors who fear they’ve lost their savings and the allegation that Cloth extracted $31 million from Creative Wealth for himself and his companies, the Capital Markets Tribunal has yet to make a decision.
But that could change soon.
Cloth is being accused by the OSC of having committed two breaches of Ontario securities law, meaning he could face a maximum administrative penalty of $2 million. He could also be permanently prohibited from becoming or acting as a director of any securities issuer.
If the case is decided against Cloth, the OSC might seek a disgorgement order for any amounts it can obtain to help repay harmed investors. That, however, does not guarantee investors will be made whole.
Cloth said he invested millions in Bron Studios and he “lost everything” as a result of the bankruptcy.
But according to property records, Cloth is still listed as the owner of a mansion with a backyard pool on Stratheden Rd., in Toronto’s posh Lawrence Park neighbourhood.
As to the Vanounous, they are unsecured lenders in Creative Wealth’s bankruptcy, meaning they have no rights against its remaining assets and might never see their money again.
“From what I know, he still has his big house and everything,” said Solly. “I don’t think that he has any problem finishing the month or filling his fridge.”
