East Greenwich man found guilty of fraud in ‘Tales from the Crypt’ scam

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WLNE) — Attorney General Peter Neronha said  that an East Greenwich man was found guilty of defrauding a British investor of $100,000 in a scheme centered on producing a film project based on the 90’s television series “Tales from the Crypt.”

John Santilli was found guilty of one count of obtaining money under false pretenses over $10,000.

The 49-year-old and his company, Aloris Entertainment, LLC, was accused of defrauding an investor from the United Kingdom in 2018 and then spending a large amount of the money at regional casinos.

Neronha said that Santilli had previously produced films.

The Rhode Island State Police investigated Santilli in 2020 after receiving a report from the victim’s attorney of the “movie deal gone wrong.”

Neronha said that the victim wired Santilli $100,000 of seed money for the project, which was reported to cost around $350,000.

After some time passed with no progress, the victim reached out to “friends in the film industry” and learned that the project was fraudulent.

Neronha said that investigators reviews Santilli’s bank records and found that he transferred money from his company to his personal bank account and used the money for gambling at Twin River Casino, Foxwoods Casino, and Mohegan Sun Casino between April 2018 and September 2018.

Santilli is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 8.