State Auditor John Morrison has used a $96,000 grant from the Investor Protection Trust to produce "Fraud Under the Big Sky," a 52-minute film chronicling two major cases of securities fraud in Montana.

The film documents the Tom O'Neill/Piper Jaffray case in Butte, as well as the Pat Davison case in Billings.

O'Neill, a stock broker, churned his clients' accounts, or conducted a number of unnecessary trades to generate commissions for himself without the clients' knowledge. The case settled in 2003.

Davison, a one-time candidate for governor, conducted a Ponzi scheme, a scam in which money from new investors is used to pay those who bought in previously, until the whole thing invariably collapses. The Davison case settled a year ago.

Both men went to prison.

"Those two cases complement each other and raise most of the important issues that investors need to be aware of in order to protect themselves," Morrison said.

J.K. Simmons, a University of Montana graduate, donated his time to be the film's narrator. Simmons has appeared in all three Spider Man movies as well as on the television program "Law and Order" among several other credits.

The film also features several Montanans who were victimized by the two scams, and several state and federal officials who were involved in discovering and litigating the two cases. Spokeswoman Stacia Dahl said that copies of the film will be distributed to libraries and senior centers across the state, and Morrison's office is negotiating to have it aired on broadcast stations as well.

"This was done as an educational effort, to try to prevent fraud from happening," she said.

Two thousand DVDs are being made at first. The piece can be seen as one film, or split into two halves (one on each case) to fit with commercial breaks into 30-minute time slots on television.

The IPT takes money from fraud settlements across the country and provides grants for investor education. Morrison has previously tapped the IPT for money to conduct senior fraud prevention seminars across the state.

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.