It seems there was a whole chorus line of phantom investors behind the doomed Broadway musical “Rebecca,” sources told The Post yesterday.
Purported billionaire “Paul Abrams” was apparently one of four imaginary moneymen referred to the show’s producers by Mark Hotton, a Long Island businessman previously accused of fraud, the sources said.
In early August, Hotton told lead producer Ben Sprecher that Abrams had died suddenly of malaria in London, the sources said.
That triggered a bizarre chain of events that led to the show’s demise — including three other Hotton “investors’’ disappearing, and a vicious anonymous e-mail sent to an authentic potential investor warning him off the show, according to the sources.
Of Hotton’s four supposed investor friends, Abrams was supposed to bring $2.5 million to the table and the other three a total of $2 million.
London officials have so far been unable to confirm that a man named Abrams died of malaria in August.
In addition, the home address producers were given for Abrams is a park in Australia, the sources said.
Hotton filed for bankruptcy last year, court papers show. He did not respond to requests for comment.
“Ben Sprecher had no idea of the kind of person he was dealing with,’’ said his lawyer, Ronald Russo.
“He has been treated like a pinata. When the facts are out, you will see he is blameless,’’ he added, noting each phantom investor came from the same source.