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MOVIE theater CEO Adam Aron has been caught sending explicit photos in a catfishing scheme.
Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, sent sexual photographs and messages in a multiple-week exchange with a woman.
The woman used fake identities in an attempt to catfish the CEO and extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from him.
The woman, identified as Sakoya Blackwood, demanded hush money and threatened to tell the press and AMC’s board about the messages.
In 2022, a federal indictment was filed over the matter in the Southern District of New York, which lead to Blackwood pleading guilty this summer.
After instruction from the FBI, Aron made the incident known to AMC’s board after Blackwood was sentenced in July.
“Rather than give in to blackmail, I personally engaged counsel and other professional advisors and reported the matter to law enforcement,” Aron said in a statement on Twitter.
“I did so knowing I risked personal embarrassment. But with my access to resources, if I did not stand up against blackmail, who could?”
“This was entirely a personal matter.”
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Blackwood began her scheme in March 2022, contacting Aron under the alias Mia. She shared pictures of a model who her attorneys said was 17-years-old.
The AMC CEO mistook the catfish for someone he had a prior relationship, asking if she was a ballerina who did “unmentionable things” to him, according to court documents.
Aron, who has been married since 1987, sent her explicit photos including images of him with another woman.
After receiving the photos, Blackwood invented new characters claiming to be an ex-boyfriend and a Vanity Fair reporter who saw the messages. She pressed for hundreds of thousands of dollars and threatened to go to the AMC board by sending Aron the cell phone numbers of six members.
“Offers are coming in like crazy ppl love a scandal,” Blackwood texted Aron in the ex-boyfriend character.
Aron didn’t pay the blackmail and went to the FBI after the threats. Prosecutors said he didn’t compromise company secrets.
“The board retained independent counsel, WilmerHale, to look into the incident. The board determined it was a personal matter, and considers the issue resolved,” AMC’s board said in a statement to Semafor.
While he is the victim in this situation, his continued display of poor judgement has only added to an already considerable amount of pressure from his board and investors.
In recent years, Aron was caught not wearing any pants in a 2021 interview, he spent $28 million buying into a gold miner, and attempted to capitalize on the short-lived NFT craze.
He also was caught up in the meme stock fiasco and sold massive amounts of AMC stock before it crashed by 94 percent in the next two years.