The FBI is on the hunt for a former television executive who produced crime documentaries for allegedly defrauding banks out of nearly $30 million by posing as a millionaire heiress.
Mary Carole McDonnell, 73, is being sought by authorities on suspicion of involvement in a fraud scheme in Los Angeles and Orange County, California, between July 2017 and May 2018.
McDonnell, who now appears on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, is alleged to have obtained $14.7 million from the Banc of California by posing as an heir to the McDonnell aircraft family, claiming she had access to a secret trust worth around $80 million. Investigators say McDonnell was not entitled to any of the money she obtained and has not repaid any of it.
The FBI said the 73-year-old, who was born in Michigan but is now believed to be living in Dubai as a fugitive, defrauded additional financial institutions by posing as a fake heiress, stealing more than $15 million.
McDonnell previously served as CEO of the now-defunct Bellum Entertainment LLC, a Burbank, California, based production company behind reality television shows such as the commercial I Married a Murderer, and Bizarre Murders.
McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, which the suspect claims she had family ties to, was a renowned military manufacturer which build the F-4 Phantom and the very first manned space orbiters for the Mercury and Gemini programs.
It merged with the Douglas Aircraft Company— at one time the world’s top manufacturer of commercial aircraft—in 1967, becoming the McDonnell Douglas Corporation which gave the world civilian planes including the DC-10 and MD-11 and military jets including the Air Force’s F-15 and the Navy’s F/A-18. That company merged with Boeing in 1997 and while the McDonnell family remain wealthy, Mary Carole McDonnell has no connection to them.
In 2017, Bellum Entertainment was investigated by the California Labor Commission for failing to pay the wages of around 50 employees, as well as former FBI agents and police officers who appeared as experts on the company’s television shows.
At the time, McDonnell told staff the company had been the victim of “significant bank fraud,” Deadline reported. Her nephew, Peter McDonnell—who was also owed money by the company—dismissed his aunt’s claims, adding that vendors were owed “extensive” amounts as well.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for McDonnell in Santa Ana, California, in December 2018. She is wanted on suspicion of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The FBI describes McDonnell as a white female, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a scar on her right knee.
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