In a true turn of events that would seem almost incredulous in a Hollywood script, the boss of a now defunct production company that specialized in true crime is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Almost a decade after things started to go badly very quickly financially and otherwise for Bellum Entertainment, ex-CEO Mary Carole McDonnell has been placed on the FBI‘s Most Wanted Fraudsters list.
Assumed to be overseas in Dubai, UAE for the past few years, the 75-year old is accused of ripping California banks off to the tune of more than $29 million starting in 2017.
The feds are offering $150,000 for information that leads to McDonnell’s arrest and conviction.
If found guilty on the five counts of bank fraud (which have maximum sentences of 30 years each), and the ID theft she was charged with in 2018, McDonnell could be facing 154 years behind bars. Though she would likely receive less than the max, it is clear former reality TV producer McDonnell would be going away for likely the rest of her life if convicted.
Now, if you think there is typo with that Most Wanted Fraudsters list, you’d be incorrect. More supplementing than replacing the famous FBI’s Most Wanted list, the currently 13 crook strong Most Wanted Fraudsters list was launched on June 4, 2026 to focus on white-collar crimes.
“The FBI’s historic Top 10 list focuses on violent criminals,” John Kent, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, FBI L.A. told Deadline today. “The Most Wanted Fraudsters list is a new way to elevate the focus on fugitives wanted for financial crimes.”
As far as McDonnell goes, the FBI does not tolerate the theft of 15 million dollars,” Kent added. “This woman was a Hollywood executive specializing in true crime content and allegedly crossed over into actual true crime. She conned her victims into believing she was an old money heiress when in reality she was a common thief.
To be specific, McDonnell convinced the banks that she was, according to the FBI, an “heir to the McDonnell Aircraft Family, with an $80 million secret trust to which she will have access.” Which makes it kinda clear why Bank of California and others would hand over millions to her without seemingly asking too many questions.
BTW – 2017, the year McDonnell allegedly scammed the banks was the same year that the Missouri-born exec, who also went by various aliases and is facing identity theft charges too, saw It Takes a Killer and Corrupt Crimes producer Bellum start to go belly-up. At the time, Bellum owed over $1 million to creditors, with more debts looming.
As Deadline’s late great David Robb reported in November 2017, the 2004 formed Bellum (originally called LongNeedle Entertainment) was sued separately by Armageddon Media and by Adirondack Entertainment for non-payment. Both companies claimed they made a 104-episode true crime series for Bellum that the company agreed to pay $3,097,000 for, but never did.
The non-paying Bellum was already under investigation at the time by the California Labor Commission for alleged nonpayment to former workers – including ex-cops and FBI agents who appeared as experts on the company’s shows. To make matters even more messy, round the same time, CEO McDonnell told current staff, including her company VP nephew, that a “significant bank fraud” was the reason no one was getting paid.
We may now have a better sense of what that “significant bank fraud” really was – though probably not how McDonnell intended.
