FBI Adds Former Bellum Entertainment CEO to Most Wanted Fraud Suspects List, Offers $150,000 Reward for Information on Mary Carol McDaniel's Whereabouts

In a twist of events that sounds almost unbelievable for a Hollywood screenplay, the former head of a defunct production company specializing in true crime is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Nearly a decade after everything went disastrously wrong financially and otherwise at Bellum Entertainment, former CEO Mary […]

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In a real-life turn of events that seems almost unbelievable in a Hollywood script, the head of a defunct production company that specializes in true crimes is wanted by the FBI.

Nearly a decade after things turned sour for Bellum Entertainment very quickly financially and otherwise, former CEO Mary Carol McDonnell was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Fraud List.

The 75-year-old, who has been living abroad in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the past few years, is accused of defrauding California banks of more than $29 million since 2017. Always launch an ep with nearly 9 million viewers

The feds are offering a $150,000 reward for information leading to McDonnell's arrest and conviction. Watch on Deadline

McDonnell could face up to 154 years in prison if convicted of five counts of bank fraud (each of which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years) and identity theft, which he was charged with in 2018. Although he will likely receive less than the maximum, it is clear that McDonnell, a former reality TV producer, will likely be out for the rest of his life if convicted.

Now, if you thought there was a typo in the wanted list, you'd be wrong. Complementary to replacing the FBI's Most Wanted List, which currently has 13 Most Wanted Fraudsters list launched on June 4, 2026 to focus on white-collar crime.

"The FBI's historical top 10 list focuses on violent criminals," Los Angeles FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Kent told Deadline today. "The Most Wanted Fraudsters List is a new way to increase the focus on fugitives wanted for financial crimes."

As far as McDonnell says, the FBI will not tolerate a $15 million theft. He tricked his victims into believing he was an old money heir when in reality he was a common thief.

In particular, McDonnell convinced Banks that he was, according to the FBI, "the heir to the McDonnell family plane," which he would have access to as a secret $80 million fund. Which kind of explains why Bank of California and others are handing him millions of dollars without asking too many questions.

BTW – 2017, the year McDonnell allegedly defrauded the banks, was the same year the Missouri-born executive, who also worked under various aliases and faced identity theft charges, saw It Takes a Killer and Corrupt Crimes producer Bellum go belly up. At the time, Bloom owed more than $1 million to creditors, with more pending.

As Deadline's late great David Robb reported in November 2017, Bellum, formed in 2004 (originally called LongNeedle Entertainment), was sued separately by Armageddon Media and Adirondack Entertainment for non-payment. Both companies claimed to have developed a 104-episode true crime series for Bellum, which the company agreed to pay $3,097,000 for, but never did.

Bloom, which did not pay, was already under investigation by the California Labor Commission at the time for failing to pay former workers — including ex-cops and FBI agents who posed as experts on company programs. To make matters worse, at the same time, McDonnell's CEO told current employees, including the nephew of his company vice president, that a "significant bank fraud" was the reason no one was getting paid.

We may now have a better understanding of what “significant bank fraud” really was—though probably not in the way McDonnell intended.

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