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Agency swiped $1.8M from NYC actors — some needed it for cancer and IVF, DA says
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Apr 22, 2025
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Catalina Gonella / Gothamist
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Apr 22, 2025
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Manhattan authorities have charged a talent agency and its president with stealing $1.8 million from 160 New York City film, television and voiceover actors, leaving some hanging for thousands of dollars in payments.
Announcing a 40-count indictment Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that from June 2021 through March 2024 Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates received and deposited checks from production companies that were issued to actors "care of KMR," but the agency never distributed the funds. Instead, KMR President Mark Measures used them to pay for business and personal expenses, including luxury purchases, according to Bragg’s office.
“Rather than pay the actors and employees, the defendants used their hard-earned money to fund his lavish lifestyle,” Bragg said. “This alleged conduct is egregious, and we will continue to fight for Manhattanites to receive every dollar they earn.”
KMR and Measures were charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud in New York Supreme Court.
Until March 2024, KMR operated as a franchise of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union, also known as SAG-AFTRA, which required the agency to disburse payments within seven business days after taking its commission, according to Bragg’s office.
KMR ended its relationship with SAG-AFTRA in March 2024 amid a “talent payment breakdown,” Deadline reported at the time. In an interview with Deadline last year, Measures blamed the payment delays on banking and logistical issues.
Prosecutors said most of the stolen wages were residual payments and holding fees, which can be hard to monitor. When actors reached out to KMR about the missing funds, Measures offered a slew of excuses for late payments, blaming the bank, earthquakes, power blackouts, sick employees and mail delays, according to Bragg’s office.
The office said Measures even called actors himself to assure them they would be paid, until he stopped communicating with them altogether.
“Where is my money, Mark?” one email from an actor to KMR in April 2024 cited by Bragg’s office reads. “$8,593.84 is past due. Money I earned. Money I need to pay my bills and put food on the table for my children.”
An email from another actor tells Measures the sender is owed $19,345 that the sender planned to use for IVF treatment.
“I am on [with] the doctors office in tears as you’ve put me in a really challenging financial position by stealing almost $20,000 from me,” it reads.
The indictment also alleges that KMR also stole $26,000 intended for the 401(k) accounts of six employees in New York City, deducting the money from their paychecks but never investing it into their accounts.
Meanwhile, Bragg’s office said, Measures lived an extravagant lifestyle, spending money at Crypto.com Arena and the Four Seasons Hotel Spa and buying clothing from high-end brands like Stuart Weitzman and Ermenegildo Zegna.
Measures pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney did not answer the phone number or email listed on her website Tuesday.
Many New York Public Radio employees are members of SAG-AFTRA, but are under a different contract from actors, whom the Manhattan DA's office described as potential victims.
Tagged
film
new york city
public safety
theater
Catalina Gonella
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