A 72-year-old woman on the FBI’s most wanted list allegedly posed as an airline heiress to swindle $30 million from banks and financial institutions in California — before hightailing it to Dubai, the feds said.
Mary Carole McDonnell, a Michigan native, is accused of scamming the banks after pedaling false claims that she was part of the McDonnell Aircraft dynasty and had access to a secret $80 million trust fund.
As part of the fugitive’s alleged fraud scheme, McDonnell managed to secure $14.7 million from the Banc of California under the guise of being the wealthy heiress, the FBI said.
She then allegedly obtained an additional $15 million from various other institutions in both Los Angeles and Orange counties.
“McDonnell is alleged to have knowingly, and with the intent to defraud, devised and participated in a scheme to obtain money, funds, assets, and property,” the FBI said.
The fake heiress carried out the scheme from July 2017 to May 2018.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for McDonnell back in 2018 but she is believed to have fled to Dubai before she could be busted, according to the FBI.
McDonnell previously served as the CEO of the now-defunct Bellum Entertainment — a Burbank-based TV production company.
The family she claimed to be part of — McDonnell Aircraft Corporation — was a major aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri.
McDonnell is wanted on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
She is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall and around 145 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and a scar on her right knee.
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