NEW YORK \u2013A Broadway producer admitted on Wednesday that he scammed his friends and others into investing more than $165,000 in a nonexistent play about opera star Kathleen Battle supposedly starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.<\/p>\n
Roland Scahill pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court to grand larceny and fraud charges. As part of the plea deal, the 42-year-old Scahill is to be sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation. He also must repay the investors and receive psychiatric treatment.<\/p>\n
Scahill said in court he pretended he had secured the rights to Battle’s life story and had signed a contract with Nyong’o to star in the play. He also falsely claimed Netflix had agreed to film a performance.<\/p>\n
Scahill owns a production company called RMS2 Productions. Prosecutors said the investors in the phoney play included some of his closest friends. The scheme played out between October 2014 and January 2015.<\/p>\n
Battle is a celebrated diva who performed with the Metropolitan Opera.<\/p>\n
Nyong’o won an Academy Award for her role in the 2013 film \u201c12 Years a Slave.\u201d She made her Broadway debut in 2016 in \u201cEclipsed,\u201d a drama about women caught up in the Liberian civil war.<\/p>\n
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