Metro

The $hady guy whose ‘Phantom’ razed the curtain

Workers yesterday remove equipment from the Broadhurst Theatre, where the curtain came down on “Rebecca” before it ever went up. (William Farrington)

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Now this is a drama that should actually be on Broadway.

A shadowy Long Island businessman previously accused of rampant fraud was the go-between for producers of the Broadway theater train wreck “Rebecca” and a mystery investor who purportedly died of malaria just before he could cough up any bucks, sources told The Post yesterday.

The doomed hook-up led to the plug being pulled on the $12 million show over the weekend — and is now the focus of a widespread FBI probe.

Troubled electrical-contracting king Mark Hotton, 46, of West Islip, was revealed as the middleman between lead producer Ben Sprecher and the investor Sprecher says he never met — a South African businessman named Paul Abrams.

“Abrams,” who has come to be dubbed “The Phantom of Shubert Alley,” had promised to invest $4.5 million in the ailing show — then suddenly died of the illness in early August in London, Sprecher’s camp has said.

Sources said Hotton had also brought on three other investors — but they all quickly disappeared after Abrams “died.”

“The worst thing that ever happened to Ben Sprecher is the day he met Mark Hotton,” one “Rebecca” source said.

It’s unclear what was in it for Hotton to bring any investors on board or even how he knows Sprecher.

Sprecher yesterday released a statement that said, “I never made up or fabricated any investor. I never made up Paul Abrams,’’ while promising that the show would eventually open.

He declined to answer questions on the advice of his lawyer.

Hotton did not respond to e-mail or phone messages. No one answered the door at his mansion.

Last year, Hotton was slapped with a civil fraud lawsuit for allegedly selling at least $1.69 million in bogus debt for collection to a brokerage firm.

The court papers accused Hotton of a “long history of criminal misconduct and fraud.”

The lawsuit had to be dismissed because Hotton filed for bankruptcy, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jerome Reisman. His clients are still seeking to have the bankruptcy tossed, he said.

Hotton’s mysterious investor buddy, “Abrams,” became a major player in the collapse of “Rebecca” after his supposed death and an ensuing poison-pen e-mail sent anonymously to another would-be investor Friday that claimed the production was beset by fraud, lies and betrayal.

“The walls are about to cave in on Mr Sprecher and the Rebecca Broadway production,” the e-mail reads. “It is a near certainty that the man Paul Abrams was made up several months ago to defraud other investors as a placeholder to give them a sense of security… while Mr Sprecher continued to try and raise money.

“With this prospect of fraud, an ongoing money shortage, a bad public perception, anemic ticket sales, and a rabid press corps, the only good reason to invest in Rebecca would be for a tax write-off and a desire to be dragged into a fraud trial.”

Hotton had told Sprecher that Abrams was a billionaire businessman who wanted to invest in Broadway shows, sources said.

Sprecher has conceded he never met — nor even had a phone conversation with — Abrams, but e-mails were exchanged, a source said.

“[Hotton] would say things like, ‘You know, Paul’s a very difficult man to reach,’” one source said.

When Abrams allegedly became ill with malaria, Hotton told production members that he was “very sick but rallying,” the source said.

Sprecher’s lawyer, Ronald Russo, said, “I have retained private investigative agencies both here and in London. I promise you we’ll get to the bottom of this and find the person responsible,” suggesting there had been a deliberate “attempt to sabotage” the show.

Sprecher, in his statement, insisted, “Despite that vicious e-mail, ‘Rebecca’ is moving forward. I am going to get this show on. It deserves to be on.”

But workers yesterday were removing the show’s rigging equipment from its Times Square digs.

“We’re loading out. It’s history, it’s gone,” said a house worker.

The show’s cast included former “Beauty and the Beast’’ star James Barbour, dubbed the “Beast of Broadway” after he admitted in Manhattan court to forcing a then-15-year-old aspiring actress to touch him in his dressing room.

Additional reporting by Mitchel Maddux, Dan MacLeod, Kevin Fasick and Liz Sadler