This is the American Greek podcast presented by CNBC. I'm Stacey Kitch.

In this episode of American Greed, a struggling actor with a side hustle worth millions.

This one is tragic because it started off as imaginary and continued imaginary and then grew so large.

Zach Horowitz moves from Indiana to Hollywood.

I'm good enough. I can do this.

Takes the stage name Zach Avery and dazzles his friends back home.

You believe that he was the big time player in LA?

He was great. Like you go out, he's buying all the drinks, he's got the good places to go.

There's a phrase acting is like lying.

But for Horowitz, lying is like acting.

As an actor, I feel like you don't want people to know who Zach is as a person.

Because Horowitz's most convincing performance is an on-screen, it's in real life, scamming his long-time friends.

I just love to know what his endgame was with this and it does he feel any remorse.

His pretentious podcasts play different now.

Playing that dynamic between the good guy and the bad guy and how I can work through those nuances was really fun.

It's Hollywood's biggest punchy scheme with a warning.

Be careful who you trust.

These are his alleged best friends and he just took all their money.

I couldn't believe it.

In 2019, the relatively unknown actor Zach Avery is finally getting somewhere.

He's landed a starring role with Olivia Munn in a film called The Gateway.

In the movie, Avery, real name Zach Horowitz plays a hardened criminal.

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