Former MoviePass Executive Sentenced for Embezzlement to Fund Coachella Party

LOS ANGELES, CA — Khalid Itum, a former executive at the once-popular cinema subscription service MoviePass, has been sentenced to time already served after being convicted of embezzling at least $260,000 from the company to fund a party at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The sentencing took place on Thursday, February 29, 2024, in Los Angeles federal court, according to the U.S. Department of Justice .

Details of the Scheme

Itum, 45, of Hollywood, was found guilty in February 2024 of two counts of wire fraud. The jury acquitted him of two counts of money laundering . He served as an executive at MoviePass from November 2017 to March 2019. The company, based in Novel York, allowed subscribers a flat monthly fee in exchange for credits redeemable for movie tickets .

In 2017, Helios and Matheson Analytics acquired MoviePass. Prior to the acquisition, Itum established Kaleidoscope Productions, a Los Angeles-based company offering production and marketing services. That same year, Itum organized a party at Coachella through Kaleidoscope . Neither MoviePass nor Helios contributed financially to the event.

To cover the costs of the Coachella party, Itum borrowed money from two individuals. He then submitted fraudulent invoices to Helios, falsely claiming Kaleidoscope had provided services. These invoices led Helios to wire funds from MoviePass and Helios accounts to a bank account belonging to Kaleidoscope . Itum concealed the scheme by misrepresenting the expenses to Helios’ auditor, claiming they were legitimate costs from the 2018 Coachella festival .

The Department of Justice stated that Itum caused Helios a financial loss of $260,000 .

Other MoviePass Executives Face Charges

This case is part of a larger series of legal issues surrounding MoviePass. Former chief executives Theodore Farnsworth and J. Mitchell Lowe pleaded guilty in Miami federal court in 2025 and 2024, respectively, for their involvement in a scheme to defraud Helios . They are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

Helios ultimately shut down MoviePass before filing for bankruptcy in 2020. The service was later revived in 2022 .