Mr. Sprecher said he was so single-minded in his determination to bring “Rebecca” to Broadway that he did not allow himself to be distracted by the oddities. Any producer could have fallen prey as he did, he said.

“When I’m in the thick of it, when I’m producing the show, and all of a sudden investors are not being forthcoming or all of a sudden difficult, it’s difficult to say, ‘Wait a minute — maybe they’re not real,’ ” Mr. Sprecher said. “It was impossible for me to assume that all of this happened with people who were made up.” At one point, Mr. Sprecher, still believing Abrams had been real, said he planned a trip to London to see if he could secure the promised money from the Abrams estate. He never went, though he later told a reporter that he had.

Asked why he lied, he said, “I didn’t want to take the time at that moment to talk and unexplain and re-explain what was happening.”

Many on Broadway have found Mr. Sprecher’s faith in Mr. Hotton mystifying, especially considering the financial stakes. Though Mr. Sprecher still hopes to bring “Rebecca” to Broadway or elsewhere next year, if the show does not open, his producing company will be liable for $7 million owed to investors and third parties.

Mr. Sprecher and his lawyer, Ronald G. Russo, said they too were mystified, but by Mr. Hotton’s motive. No one would orchestrate such an elaborate scheme for a mere $60,000, they said. “I think it’s part of the story that’s untold,” Mr. Sprecher said.

As evidence of his faith, Mr. Sprecher recounted what happened when F.B.I. agents visited him on Sept. 26, a day after an article in The New York Times raised questions about Abrams’s existence. He did not view them initially as investigators looking into a potential fraud.“I thought they were press people who were pretending to be F.B.I. agents to get information about Paul Abrams because I didn’t have anything more,” he said.

Mr. Hotton is being held without bail, facing a maximum prison term of 20 years for each of two counts of wire fraud if he is convicted. He also faces fraud charges brought by federal prosecutors on Long Island. Though he has been the subject of multiple complaints from stock clients and others, Mr. Hotton retained his broker’s license until this spring, when he surrendered it, and those matters have led to no criminal prosecutions until this week.