In 1985, after nearly 35 years at Disney, Don left to form his own company called Iwerks Entertainment.
He did this by claiming fictitious profits on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange, SIMEX, and using money requested from London as margin payments on fictitious trades to finance his loss-making positions.
In 1954, Iwerks got a camera technician position for the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, starring Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre.
Iwerks studio quickly began accumulating new talent, such as animators Fred Kopietz, Irv Spence, Grim Natwick, and Chuck Jones (who worked at the Iwerks studio as a cel-washer before going on to inbetweening and then animating at the Leon Schlesinger studio).
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After a series of disputes between the two, Iwerks left Disney and went on to accept an offer from Pat Powers to open a cartoon studio of his own and receive a salary of $300 a week, an offer that Disney couldn't match at the time.
His multiplane camera was used in a number of the Iwerks Studio's Willie Whopper and Comicolor cartoons of the mid-1930s.