- "I was down to my last chip, but it never occurred to me not to put it on the line, bet it, and roll the dice one more time ..." For Clifford Irving it was to be boom or bust. He chose to go for broke and pulled the most sensational hoax involving Howard Hughes, a prestigious New York publishing house and over a million dollars. It made global newspaper headlines and was heralded as the biggest media scam of all time.The Hoax recreates Irving"s audacious literary sting when he convinced a US publisher that Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire, had commissioned him to write his authorized biography. A frantic year ensued while Irving forged letters and passports, faked interviews, set up a Swiss bank account and travelled thousands of miles to maintain his story, all the while desperately trying to juggle a wife, a mistress and an editor. Gradually the cracks in the plot started to appear and the nightmare began. Before he knew it, Irving realized he was set on a crash course towards indictment, conviction and jail.