818-909-6800

Hi,

I am a film reporter and would love to hear your story about your experience with this -- we're trying to dig into the dealings of the producers of the Dorothy film. Would you email me?

Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com.

Thanks!

Hi,

I am a film reporter and would love to hear your story about your experience with this -- we're trying to dig into the dealings of the producers of the Dorothy film. Would you email me?

Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com.

Thanks!

Hi,

I am a film reporter working on a story about this whole ordeal. Would you be willing to email me so we could talk about the situation you're dealing with now? I'd love to know what was promised, etc.

Thanks so much,

Jordan
Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com

Hi --

I am a film reporter and am working on a story about this situation. I'd love to talk to you about what happened, what you were told when you were investing, etc. Could you email me?

Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com.

Thanks!

Hi -- I am a journalist working on a story about this situation. Would you care to share your story with me? I'd love to talk to you and learn what happened.

Please email me at Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com.

Thanks so much!

So people could invest as if this was a 401(k)?  That should mean this investment was funded via a rollover, right?  If so, they should be able to rollover the current value to another plan without incurring  a penalty and early taxes.  Consult with your Financial Adviser and Tax Preparer before making any decisions.  Sure hope the Custodian does not create any problems.  Challenge them if they intend to assess high maint. fees.  If this is a 401(k) account, consult with your Adviser about whether or not it is advisable to go ahead and pay taxes and penalties if the Custodian will allow you to close the account if that is the only way to get your money out.  (It should not be-rollovers happen everyday and there are no tax consequences if handled properly. Again, consult with your Accountant, CFP, etc.).

It is money on paper. You can NOT rollover, take out, or close your IRA account. It is alive and well. But yet no longer exists except for fees and taxation. Anyone that used their IRA ( 401K) will be taxed and penalized if the close account. What will happen is that every individual will continue to pay fees for the next 10 years.  So, again, please be prepared to receive bills from the trust custodian for many more years for money that doesn't exist. Every time you write another check you will be reminded of your stupidity.  There exists a very good chance that many may lose another $10K or more just in fees.

I can almost bet you that Steve is Steve Tejeda whose wife Dana is one of the producers

Are you an investor in this particular project?

Not sure this is accurate. If the custodian is showing a value, there should be a method to get it out.  Did people roll over their IRA accounts into the OZ LLC as an IRA account?  Is that what those people signed up for, a transfer of their IRA account to the be held as an IRA account invested in OZ?

The large entertainment site thewrap is working on a story about the scam and is looming to talk to investors. If you would like to help contact Jordan.Zakarin@TheWrap.com

They are "looming" to talk to investors?   Sounds scary.  
Mabe your ment to say their *looking* to talk to investers.   Huh ?

Seriously:   Why are people trying to say that if one had invested via a 401K that it is now "locked in forever" ??
Can't the investor simply roll it out of the Legends of Oz and place it somewhere else?  What am I missing?
Does it have to do with the current value since the tragic box office debacle?  Is it because the value might now
be considered to be $zero?    Could someone re-splain this to me ?   Thx.

Here's what I know...we invested $80,000 from our 401k into Equity Trust to invest in this movie.  Shortly after that, the shares went from $1 per share to $3 per share.  So, our investment went from $80,000 to $240,000.  Looked pretty good at the time.  However, there is no actual money sitting in that account.  The money went to Alpine pictures, leaving us with a piece of paper that says we have 80,000 shares valued at $240,000.  We exchanged our money for that piece of paper.  We can NOT roll it over into another IRA because it is only a piece of paper.  There is no money.  The money is gone.  There is nothing to roll over.  

We were told by Equity Trust that we can not close the acct to stop being billed annually because the piece of paper still represents 80,000 shares valued at $3 each.  If we close the acct, we will be taxed on the value of the acct - $240,000.  

There are two ways to stop paying the annual fee ($240 per year), 1)  Alpine needs to devalue their stock, (which they won't do because they are still spending what's left of our money to develop the franchise), or 2) we pay tax and penalty on $240,000 to close the acct (until Apline devalues the stock it still considered to have a $3 per share value).  

If anyone has any suggestions on how we can get out of this mess...I'm all ears!

I hope that you brought some sanity and clarity to the issue. I am shocked, literally shocked by the sheer lack of intelligence of some people in not understanding their investment. I think that it may be important to identify if the fees charged by the trust custodian are based on reported "VALUE". If so, it would seem that your $80,000 transition to $240,000 just raised your yearly fees significantly.  You might want to add an additional $10,000 to your loss on top of the $80,000

Why is there an assumption that there is another project? Has another LLC been formed? has first right of refusal been solicited to all investors? Is anything on IMDB? Are there any press reports of a sequel? Who is going to buy the sequel? I cant imagine Hollywood taking anyone seriously that had the #1 worst opening of any animated movie.

There is the assumption of another project because they told us there was.  They have been telling us for years, there would be more than just this one movie.  There would be multiple movies, toys, CD's, video games, clothes, etc.   All the investors understood this was a franchise - multiple revenue streams - not just this one movie.  This is probably why they were able to get so many investors.  We weren't just investing in this one movie, we were investing in the "franchise".  

That is why there is no way to stop this madness.  Apparently, it doesn't stop because the movie did poorly.  In an interview, Greg said there was still money left, but they were going to use it to pursue the "franchise", not throw in the towel and return money to investors.  We all still stuck in the land of Oz, with no way out.

As stockholders we should be able to hold a vote.  I revert to my thoughts on us needing an attorney.

My concern with hiring an attorney is that Alpine or BOP have millions of dollars (whatever is left of the $110 million) and we are just regular working people.  I'm afraid we would just loose even more money than we already have.  Plus, (I think) it says in the original contract something about them producing more than one movie - and, I do not think it says anywhere in the contract that the stockholders get a vote on anything.

Just wondering:   For those investors who aren't trapped in a 401-K situation, is anyone buying or selling
shares in the ECOZ, LLC  or the DOZ, LLC ??

Does anyone know what a current value would be for the units of the LLC's ??

I don't think there is any restriction on buying/selling shares of the ECOZ, is there?

Is there a market for worthless shares?  who would you sell this to?

You concern is that they would outspend you?  That they would use your money to defend themselves in court?
the money is spent