Federal officials are working to track down a 73-year-old woman who posed as a wealthy heiress and scammed banks in California out of more than $30 million.
According to the FBI, Mary Carole McDonnell falsely claimed to be an heir to what the agency describes as the “McDonnell Aircraft Family,” the founders of a major American aerospace corporation that specialized in developing military and commercial aircraft.
Federal officials say that starting in July 2017, the elderly Michigan native defrauded several financial institutions in multiple counties in and around Los Angeles, including the Banc of California.
McDonnell is accused of scamming the bank out of roughly $14.7 million that she never paid back, and defrauding other banks out of more than $15 million.
Authorities say she deceived these financial institutions by alleging that there was an $80 million secret trust in her name that she would be granted access to.
Her ruse lasted for nearly a year, and a federal arrest warrant was issued in December 2018, accusing her of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
By that time, she was already on the run.
Officials believe McDonnell is currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
They say she is 5 feet 7, 145 pounds, and has ties to Los Angeles and Montgomery, Alabama.
The FBI says that she was the chief executive officer of Bellum Entertainment Group, a Burbank-based television production company that shut down in 2017.
The group produced true-crime shows like “I Married a Murderer” and “It Takes a Killer.” According to KABC, the company was founded by McDonnell in 2004. It dissolved in 2017 due to “unresolved financial issues.”
McDonnell’s case bears similarities to the story of Anna Delvey Sorokin, a young woman who pretended to be a German heiress to curry favor with the New York elite.
To further her fake persona, Delvey used invalid credit cards, phony bank statements, and other fake documents to scam hotels and banks. She also spread word about her dream to create a private club and art foundation called the Anna Delvey Foundation to lure wealthy donors. Prosecutors say she conned numerous people and stole approximately $275,000.
Delvey’s story inspired the hit Netflix show “Inventing Anna.”
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