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Adam Aron, AMC Entertainment’s chief executive who has built a committed following among the US cinema chain’s army of retail investors, has revealed he was the subject of a blackmail attempt in which a woman he met online threatened to release sexually explicit photos of him.
Aron, one of the most high-profile executives swept up in the meme stock craze of 2021, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday that last year he “became the victim of an elaborate criminal extortion by a third party” relating to “false allegations” about his private life.
In the X post, Aron detailed how instead of “[giving] in to blackmail”, he hired a legal counsel and reported the matter to law enforcement.
“I did so knowing I risked personal embarrassment,” wrote Aron. “But with my access to resources, if I did not stand up against blackmail, who could?”
The woman accused of extortion has since been convicted of a felony and was sentenced in July this year, Aron added.
The extortion case, which was heard in the Southern District of New York, is laid out in an unsealed indictment from late August.
It recounts how 34-year-old New York-based woman Sakoya Blackwood allegedly “used multiple online identities to target one or more wealthy and high-profile men in a catfishing and extortion scheme”.
The indictment accuses Blackwood of threatening to release “sexually explicit photographs” of “a particular individual who is the chief executive officer of a publicly traded company”, referred to as “Victim 1”.
This individual is Aron, according to a person familiar with the matter. The news was first reported by Semafor, the news website.
Blackwood is also accused of engaging “in a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and threats against Victim 1, including by sending harassing, threatening, and intimidating text messages to Victim 1”.
The indictment charges Blackwood with cyberstalking, interstate communications with the intent to extort and extortion.
Until the woman’s sentencing in July this year, where she was sentenced to nearly a year of prison time, which she had already served, Aron was instructed by law enforcement authorities to keep the matter confidential.
He subsequently informed AMC’s board following the sentencing who drafted in law firm WilmerHale to conduct an independent review, according to his X post.
AMC’s board of directors said in a statement that they “retained independent counsel, WilmerHale, to look into the incident”, adding: “The board determined it was a personal matter and considers the issue resolved.”
Despite lacklustre box office sales since the coronavirus pandemic and the Hollywood strikes dragging on AMC’s trading performance, the continued enthusiasm of retail investors has helped keep the biggest US cinema chain afloat.
Last month, the cinema group raised $325mn by selling 40mn shares to help bolster its cash reserves.
In his latest gambit, Aron has signed deals with pop stars Taylor Swift and Beyoncé to distribute their concert films in cinemas to help plug a shortfall in content from the Hollywood actors’ strike.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which opens in cinemas globally on Friday, had already sold $100mn in advance ticket sales as of last week.
Aron, who has been married for 25 years, thanked AMC’s retail investors for their support in his X post.
“In recent years, AMC’s millions of retail shareholders have played a central role in my life,” he said. “Your passion for our company is one of my key motivators in doing all I can to help AMC survive so that eventually we can thrive.”
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