Cameron Henderson
Washington: Mary Carole McDonnell spent years creating true-crime television series investigating plots of murder, corruption and espionage as the head of a California production agency.
On Tuesday, the 73-year-old became entangled in a criminal drama of her own after she was added to the FBI’s most-wanted list for allegedly posing as an heiress to defraud millions of dollars from big banks, cast members and even her own family.
Federal investigators believe McDonnell fled to the United Kingdom after coming under scrutiny in 2017 for not paying wages, before heading to Dubai, where she is thought to remain at large.
Bobby Chacon, a former FBI agent who worked with the producer, said that her years of producing true-crime television might have trained her for life on the run.
“Maybe she learned how not to get caught by watching so many people get caught on her programs,” he said.
Her once seemingly successful production company, Bellum Entertainment Group, was behind dozens of true-crime shows, including It Takes a Killer and I Married a Murderer.
‘She was building this house of cards that ultimately collapsed.’
Bobby Chacon, a former FBI agent who worked with the producer
McDonnell, who was known for her gaudy jewellery, would host extravagant parties for staff at her house north-east of Los Angeles, which was equipped with a ballroom and resort-style swimming pool, a former associate said.
Rumours about her wealth are said to have circulated among crew members, particularly that she came from a “big-money family”.
“She gave the appearance that she was a very independently wealthy woman,” Joshua Koffmann, one of her former employees, told KTLA 5, adding that she “was always impeccably dressed”.
Suspicions about McDonnell were first raised in 2017, after Deadline reported that the California Labour Commission was looking into Bellum for failing to pay wages to dozens of former workers.
Chacon said he was making “very good money” for a year, but then pay cheques began to take weeks to arrive, forcing members of the crew to breaking point.
He eventually parted ways with the company in mid-2017 and says he was still owed $US36,000 ($54,000).
Around the same time, McDonnell secured a $US14.7 million ($22 million) loan from California-based banks by claiming to be a member of the McDonnell aviation dynasty with an $US80 million secret trust fund she would be able to access.
“Beginning in approximately July 2017 and continuing to May of 2018, McDonnell is alleged to have knowingly, and with intent to defraud, devised and participated in a scheme to obtain money, funds, assets and property owned by Banc of California,” the FBI alleged.
The Michigan-native used similar tactics to steal an estimated $US15 million from other financial institutions, according to federal investigators.
In December 2018, a federal arrest warrant was issued for her after a grand jury indicted her on charges of fraud and identity theft.
Even family members were exposed to her alleged crimes. Peter McDonnell, her nephew, worked at Bellum Entertainment and is reportedly owed thousands of dollars.
“We all thought something strange was going on, and then one day, she was just gone,” Chacon said.
McDonnell is thought to have travelled to London before making her way to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and applying to extend her visa in 2019. UAE immigration authorities were approached for comment.
After she disappeared, an online community of disgruntled former employees who claimed to be owed money by McDonnell began to form, sharing rumours about her whereabouts, much like the true crime investigators from her TV shows.
After 27 years in the FBI, Chacon said he was not surprised by the extent of the producer’s alleged crimes but said there was no reason to suspect her when they first met.
“At the foundation, it was a legitimate business,” he said. “But over time, she was building this house of cards that ultimately collapsed, and she was not going to be around when that happened.”
The Telegraph, London
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
