When the tv manufacturing firm Jeff Nimoy labored for started falling behind on payroll in 2017, the Los Angeles showrunner wasn’t alarmed.
Bellum Leisure was a “machine,” he stated, producing a gradual slate of true crime exhibits, kids’s TV and documentaries. At one level, the corporate had upward of 30 exhibits on air or in growth, together with “It Takes a Killer.”
Like his colleagues, Nimoy additionally believed the corporate’s CEO, Mary Carole McDonnell, was a rich aviation heiress with entry to hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
“I used to be like, there’s no manner this factor’s happening, they’ve received an excessive amount of capital,” stated Nimoy, who believed at one level that he would spend the subsequent 20 years of his profession at Bellum.
However that dream vanished when his paychecks stopped and Bellum Leisure abruptly shut down. Almost a decade later, Nimoy remains to be ready to be paid over $16,000 — and McDonnell is a fugitive sought by the FBI after, it says, she falsely posed because the inheritor to the McDonnell plane household to defraud California banks out of almost $30 million complete.
“Everyone was proper, and I used to be fallacious,” Nimoy stated.
This month, the FBI launched a most-wanted bulletin looking for details about McDonnell, 73, who was federally indicted in 2018 on costs of financial institution fraud and aggravated id theft. Investigators allege that from July 2017 to Might 2018, McDonnell used solid paperwork and claimed she had entry to a secret $80 million belief fund as a part of her scheme.
Federal investigators consider McDonnell is in Dubai.
Whereas McDonnell faces legal costs that she duped banks, former Bellum staff, members of the family and court docket data describe what they are saying was her fall from being a prolific tv producer to an alleged con artist who left a protracted path of victims.
“We now have been looking for her whereabouts,” FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller instructed NBC Information, noting that new details about allegations of continued misdeeds overseas has prompted the FBI to ask the general public for assist.
The McDonnell plane household finally offered the company. The James S. McDonnell Basis didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
An alleged false legacy
The one biographical element in McDonnell’s aviation dynasty story {that a} relative knew to be correct was her ties to St. Louis. The relative requested to not be recognized to guard different members of the family.
McDonnell was born in Michigan and has ties to Alabama, the FBI stated. However the relative stated McDonnell grew up within the St. Louis space, the place the McDonnell Douglas plane firm was based.
The relative stated that whereas McDonnell’s father was “nicely off” and owned a profitable grocery retailer, she would “inflate her worth” and make up tales about being linked to McDonnell Douglas Corp. The corporate was recognized for producing airplane components throughout World Conflict II, growing the Navy’s first carrier-based jet fighter and shaping house exploration and aviation.
“I talked straight along with her dad … and he laughed and stated, ‘No, there’s no connection there,’” the relative stated. “I used to be foolish sufficient to not problem her on that. However she would proceed to tout that connection, adamant that she would inherit this big sum of cash.”
Particulars of McDonnell’s early profession and when she relocated to California aren’t instantly clear. In response to former Bellum Leisure staff, McDonnell continued to say she was a dynasty scion.
‘I had plenty of bounced checks,’ ex-Bellum employee says
Brian Testa was employed as a producer and director for Bellum Leisure’s Burbank location in July 2016. He initially noticed the chance to work on true crime re-enactment exhibits like “Murderous Affairs” and “Deep Undercover” as a brand new journey.
“I got here from plenty of actuality [television]. So scripted, whereas protecting the story true to the one that was the sufferer, often it was homicide, I’d inform that story as visually entertaining as I might,” he stated. “It was a problem.”
Testa stated his crew typically labored 12-hour days scouting places, filming and getting the props wanted for exhibits. McDonnell was all the time out and in of the workplace, he stated.
Testa stated McDonnell projected wealth — driving a Porsche, understanding of an workplace with “wealthy wooden in every single place” and carrying herself like somebody who would get pleasure from “five-star resorts and positively the lavish way of life.”
“She dressed good … however all the time appeared barely matted,” he stated, including that the workplace rumors instructed she got here from cash.“I positively heard two completely different tales whereas I used to be there. One was the McDonnell Douglas heiress, after which the opposite was that there was a household belief arrange for her.”
When the checks began bouncing and the facade of generational wealth started to crumble, Testa stated, McDonnell all the time had a proof for the late funds. Generally she would blame them on a line of credit score that didn’t come by, and different occasions she’d inform her staff that there was “important financial institution fraud” affecting firm funds, Testa stated.
When folks did receives a commission, Testa stated, there was a rush to money the checks.
“There could be a mad sprint out the door to get them to the banks earlier than the banks would shut so you would money them, as a result of they might transfer cash round,” he stated. “I had plenty of bounced checks.”
For Carlos Franco, doubts about Bellum Leisure started virtually as quickly as he was employed as a manufacturing assistant on the firm’s New Orleans workplace in 2016.
He started listening to complaints from his colleagues about not being paid whereas he was engaged on “Murderous Affairs.” Then, his first paycheck was late, and the justifications began.
“It was all the time some problem with the financial institution or the cash that they had been purported to be getting wasn’t launched to them but, or they needed to change banks, or they had been getting a mortgage,” he stated.
Unaware of the payroll points alleged to be plaguing Bellum, Aaron Cadieux started working for the corporate in 2017 after having been contacted to assist with a present, “Mysteries of the Unexplained.”
The manufacturing firm needed Cadieux as its director of images for an episode filming in Massachusetts concerning the Bridgewater Triangle, a roughly 200-square-mile space within the state recognized for what some folks consider is paranormal exercise.
Cadieux, who lives in Massachusetts and owns a video manufacturing firm, had by no means heard of Bellum — however he jumped on the alternative. The corporate paid him $500 upfront, which he stated gave him “some peace of thoughts” and even supplied him with a digital camera.
“I feel they even supplied lunch and all that sort of stuff. I imply, it was a skeleton operation. It wasn’t like some huge-budget factor, however I used to be fully comfortable,” he stated.
Just like the others, Cadieux stated he started shortly noticing purple flags. Whereas the two-day shoot wrapped within the spring of 2017, he stated, he was nonetheless ready to be paid his remaining $2,000 bill by the top of the summer time.
Cadieux stated he despatched emails and known as Bellum for months for updates on his fee.
“I apologize for the delays in fee. We now have fallen a bit behind. A fee is being processed and might be despatched out this week,” a Bellum worker who labored in accounts payable stated in a July 26, 2017, e mail that Cadieux shared with NBC Information.
Cadieux stated he by no means acquired the July fee. In a Nov. 10, 2017, e mail, the worker instructed that Cadieux’s verify had been mailed and apologized for the delay. When Cadieux as soon as once more didn’t obtain his cash, he instructed NBC Information, he finally emailed McDonnell and threatened to create a web site exposing her for not paying staff.
“They wired me my cash. I received paid, however what about the remainder of these folks? So I stated screw it,” he stated, noting that he solely briefly launched the web site.
Across the identical time, Bellum’s troubles started to make headlines, and the corporate was finally slapped with dozens of wage claims lawsuits in Los Angeles County. On-line court docket data present that McDonnell has been named in quite a few civil instances.
In 2017, the California Labor Commissioner’s Workplace investigated Bellum after roughly 50 staff filed unpaid wage claims, the leisure web site Deadline reported on the time.
“The claims principally allege non-payment of wages and have been filed by actors, producers, crew members, and others,” a spokeswoman for the Labor Commissioner’s Workplace instructed Deadline on the time. “Some have settled, and a few haven’t and are in several phases of the wage declare course of.”
The Labor Commissioner’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to NBC Information’ request for remark however stated it was working to acquire details about its investigation of McDonnell.
Dealing with mounting strain, the corporate abruptly shut down after a deliberate weeklong break to have fun the Fourth of July vacation in 2017.
“The evening earlier than we had been purported to return, it was one thing like, we’re experiencing some delays, we’re going to increase the break two extra weeks,” Nimoy stated. “That’s once I known as my boss and stated, ‘We’re by no means coming again.’ He agreed, and we by no means heard from them once more.”
Testa stated that after the corporate closed, he started protesting exterior the workplace to demand again pay. Days later, he acquired a verify for the $3,000 he stated the corporate owed him.
However different Bellum staff weren’t so fortunate.
Franco filed a criticism with the California Labor Division in September 2017 and received a judgment of $12,395 — however he says he’s nonetheless owed $1,250 in unpaid wages. Nimoy stated the corporate owes him $16,650 in again pay.
From allegedly stiffing staff to allegedly swindling banks
The FBI alleged that behind the scenes, McDonnell was operating an excellent greater con. A 2018 federal indictment accused her of acquiring $14.7 million from Banc of California by falsely claiming she was associated to the McDonnell Douglas household and had entry to an $80 million belief.
In an amended federal civil criticism filed in December 2018, the financial institution stated that in a gathering with McDonnell and her former lawyer, Barry Rothman, McDonnell stated she was the inheritor to the founding father of McDonnell Douglas Corp. and the beneficiary of the household belief. McDonnell stated she was set to obtain a money distribution from the belief however wanted a mortgage to tide her over, the criticism alleges.
The financial institution alleged that the scheme concerned her forging paperwork and falsely claiming that she would repay the mortgage from the belief. The financial institution sued her for intentional misrepresentation/fraud, conspiracy to defraud and breach of written contract. Rothman, who died in March 2018, wasn’t named as a defendant within the case.
Federal investigators alleged in an indictment that McDonnell used related techniques to defraud greater than $15 million from different monetary establishments.
On Dec. 12, 2018, a federal arrest warrant was issued for McDonnell on costs of aggravated id theft and financial institution fraud. However by then, federal authorities consider, she had fled to Dubai.
The FBI stated it has acquired data that McDonnell remains to be alleged to be engaged in fraud overseas.
“Publicity is an investigative software,” stated Eimiller, the FBI spokesperson. “We had been on the level the place the case was sort of chilly, and we had been receiving data that she was persevering with to defraud, and we determined that it was the strategic time to go public.”
