FMP lands exclusive life rights to FBI most-wanted con man Matthew Cox
LA-based agency Foundation Media Partners (FMP) has won the rights to develop dual scripted and non-scripted series about the life of a con man who stole more than US$50m in the early 2000s.
Matthew Cox
FMP said it will immediately begin developing both scripted and non-scripted limited series around Matthew Cox’s life and infamous exploits as a mortgage fraudster who stole more than US$50m beginning in the early 2000s.
Cox is a former-licensed mortgage broker and brokerage business owner, as well as an admitted scammer, fraudster, and con man. He is now a true-crime writer and podcaster.
At one point Cox, who recently gave a six-hour interview on The Lex Fridman Podcast, topped the Secret Service’s most wanted list and led the US Marshals, FBI and the Secret Service on a three-year chase.
In addition to making the scripted and unscripted TV series, FMP plans on securing a major publisher for his book Shark in the Housing Pool and increasing his true crime podcast presence.
FMP founder and CEO Patrick Hughes said: “We really love this story because Matthew is not just a guy who committed fraud, he invented new ways to do it. His story is Catch Me If You Can meets Wolf of Wall Street meets Big Short.
“It’s wildly exciting – and Mathew is charming, undeniable and a masterful storyteller who audiences will undoubtedly be drawn to. We’re excited to move fast on these series.”
Cox said: “I’m one hundred percent confident that my story is in the right hands.”
FMP, which is behind the entertainment expansion of brands such as Build-A-Bear among others, primarily focuses on “family-based entertainment” but said it is “compelled to bring Cox’s story to the masses and to create a brand around him.”
It comes after FMP secured the exclusive book, film and documentary rights to the life story of Terry Watanabe, the notorious gambling addict who made history as Las Vegas’ biggest ever whale, losing over US$200m in a single year after gambling an unprecedented US$825m.
Foundation is adapting the cautionary tale into a feature film, documentary and/or book, while collaborating with Watanabe himself. FMP has said it is the first time Watanabe has spoken about his experience since settling a lawsuit with an undisclosed casino group in 2010.
