The Head of AMC Theatres Says He Was Target of Extortion
The popular movie theater chain AMC has had a very strange last couple of years. To start with, it was pretty close to falling into bankruptcy around the time of the whole GameStop stock market situation. After selecting GameStop as a major stock they felt was undervalued (or susceptible to having its price artificially inflated), tons of users invested their personal savings into the company. Around that time, they also started investing in AMC. It may have helped save the company, which was struggling amidst the pandemic, even if it was just intended as a “meme stock.”
The CEO of the company, Adam Aron, recently also spoke about a blackmail scheme he had been at the center of. Somehow, he was embroiled in a large-scale extortion attempt that was related to a personal matter. It wasn't an act of corporate sabotage or anything like that. He recently took to Twitter to discuss the whole situation.
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He wrote in his lengthy statement online...
Unfortunately, last year I became the victim of an elaborate criminal extortion by a third party who was unknown to me related to false allegations about my personal life. Rather than give in to blackmail, I personally engaged counsel and other professional advisors and reported the matter to law enforcement. I did so knowing I risked personal embarrassment. But with my access to resources, if I did not stand up against blackmail, who could?
The main suspect in the crime has apparently been arrested, charged with a felony, and has been sentenced to spend almost a year in prison. At the moment, no real details have been revealed about the whole situation other than what Aron himself posted.
“This was entirely a personal matter,” Aron also said.