Former MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud Conspiracy

Former MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe pleaded guilty Monday to a securities fraud charge, admitting that he conspired to deceive the public and investors about the sustainability of the company’s $9.95-a-month movie subscription service.

Lowe, 72, faces a maximum of five years in federal prison. His plea agreement has not yet been made public.

“Mitch is a good man who is looking to move forward with his life,” said his attorneys, Margot Moss and David Oscar Markus, in a statement. “He has accepted responsibility for his actions in this case and will continue to try to make things right.”

Ted Farnsworth, the former CEO of parent company Helios and Matheson, is scheduled to face a trial on the same charges next March.

Farnsworth, 62, has been in federal custody since August 2023, when his bond was revoked after he allegedly used company funds to pay for a sex worker.

Farnsworth and Lowe were the architects of MoviePass’ doomed all-you-can-watch offering, which resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in investor losses in 2017 and 2018. Investigators found that Lowe tried to stem the losses by throttling the service, forcing high-volume users to reset their passwords and verify their tickets.

The two men were charged in November 2022 on counts of wire fraud and securities fraud.

Lowe remains free on bond, and is due back in court in Miami on March 21 for a status conference. Lowe published a memoir in 2022 in which he reflected on the downfall of MoviePass, entitled “Watch and Learn: How I Turned Hollywood Upside Down with Netflix, Redbox, and Moviepass.”

Farnsworth was initially released on a $1 million bond, but prosecutors moved to revoke his release after a series of incidents in 2023.

According to police reports, Farnsworth got into altercations with a former boyfriend in Baldwinsville, N.Y., which resulted in multiple restraining orders. Farnsworth accused the man of choking him and shoving him onto a stairway at their home. The man, 28, accused Farnsworth of damaging his phone and a necklace during a later confrontation at a hotel.

Farnsworth also allegedly paid $147,000 to the man, whom he met on an escort site, taking the funds from a company account. He also bought him a $144,000 Cadillac Escalade with company funds, according to prosecutors. Federal investigators learned that the man did not know what the company was, and had never worked for it. When the two parted ways, Farnsworth falsely accused the man of stealing the Escalade, according to prosecutors.

Farnsworth allegedly failed to report the incidents to his probation officer, and repeatedly traveled to Miami without permission from the probation officer.

Prosecutors allege that Farnsworth also patronized a prostitute in the summer of 2023, sending the man multiple wire transfers after meeting him on the escort site. They allege that Farnsworth spent the month of June 2023 in Miami with the sex worker, going to high-end clubs and on luxury shopping sprees.

Farnsworth was in custody when he appeared in court on Monday. His lawyer asked Judge David S. Leibowitz on Monday to postpone the trial, but that request was denied.

No sentencing date has been set for Lowe.