Kevin Spacey‘s first film as director in more than 20 years was written by and stars a man wanted by U.S. authorities for being part of an alleged cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
“The Portal of Force” — announced by Variety in May and part of a comeback by Spacey after falling from grace in Hollywood following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct — is a supernatural action-thriller that shot last year in Mexico and in which the two-time Oscar winner stars alongside Dolph Lundgren, Tyrese Gibson and Eric Roberts. It’s set to be the first of three chapters in the so-called “Holiguards Saga.”
“The Portal of Force” also involves Vladimir “Lado” Okhotnikov, a Russian national who in 2023 was indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Okhotnikov, who denies the charges, helped co-write the feature, based on his own ideas, and stars in the film. He is also listed as one of the producers via his production company Lado Film. According to his IMDb profile, “Portal of Force” marks his screenwriting debut, co-writing the film with Sergey Torchilin.
Okhotnikov was one of four founders of Forsage, a cryptocurrency investment platform that the Department of Justice asserted was a “Ponzi and pyramid investment scheme that took in approximately $340 million from victim-investors around the world.” The DOJ said that, if convicted, Okhotnikov — alongside his co-defendants Olena Oblamska, Mikhail Sergeev, and Sergey Maslakov — would face a “maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.”
Prior to the indictment, in 2022 an SEC case against was launched against Okhotnikov and his Forsage co-founders. Later that year, Okhotnikov filed a motion to have the civil case dismissed. In his declaration he asserted that Forsage did not have offices or bank accounts in the U.S. and was “not an entity created under the laws of any state of the United States.”
In a video on YouTube posted in August 2022 he denied the SEC charges, claiming there were “no victims” of Forsage and that no participants “found themselves in a situation of financial pyramids.” Despite appearing in numerous promotional videos published on U.S. platforms with U.S. citizens promoting the Forsage scheme, Okhotnikov claimed he had “in no way touched the jurisdiction of the United States.” He claimed that Forsage is not a scam because “real scams can never win people’s hearts.”
The SEC is stayed pending the outcome of the criminal case, but no court date has been set, while Okhotnikov has remained outside of U.S. jurisdiction and hasn’t been arrested.
In an email to Variety, Okhotnikov again asserted that accusation against him were “unfounded,” and claimed that “no evidence had ever been presented” against him and “no court rulings have been issued.” He added that the “mere publications of an indictments, made by SEC and DOJ, were reported in headlines as though guilt had already been established.”
Okhotnikov said that “no further action” has been taken by U.S. authorities in the almost three years since. “The only development was the publication of the indictment itself, which spread across hundreds of outlets — often with misleading headlines,” he added, claiming that it had cause him “harm [that] went beyond reputation.”
“The Portal of Force,” which has a budget of around $10 million,” is set against the backdrop of a near-future world fractured by hidden supernatural forces, where two ancient warrior factions wage a secret war for control of humanity’s fate.
According to the founder of Behind MLM, a website that reports on financial fraud, the plot of the film is “extremely similar thematically” to short films that Okhotnikov uploaded to the Forsage YouTube channel. These videos were reportedly recently taken down.
Ellegdy Media Group, which is the lead producer and main financier of “The Portal of Force,” tells Variety that Okhotnikov made no investment in “Portal of Force,” while his producer credit was given for allowing the production to use his studio and post-production facilities in Dubai, where he resides. Variety also reached out to Spacey for comment.
A trailer to “The Portal of Force” was shown behind closed doors in Cannes but is due to be given a special presentation at a gala dinner in Venice, which Spacey is expected to attend. The film, the latest rung in a comeback since being found not guilty of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in a high-profile court trial in 2023 — marks Spacey’s first film as director since 2004’s “Beyond the Sea,” in which he starred alongside Kate Bosworth, John Goodman and Bob Hoskins.
