Mary Carole McDonnell Allegedly Stole Millions After Posing as an Heiress

Mary Carole McDonnell was the chief executive officer of Bellum Entertainment, LLC, a company based in Burbank, Calif., that produced and distributed several television shows, including true-crime programs like It Takes a Killer and I Married a Murderer.

McDonnell allegedly told employees, family and others that she was an heiress, related to a wealthy and influential family. Many who worked for McDonnell have said she denied them pay while flaunting an affluent lifestyle. She also stands accused of stealing millions from banks and financial institutions.

“I think she treated her business like a candy store,” Phil Paul Call, a director and producer who worked on shows at Bellum, told Rolling Stone. “She could have paid her bills, but she just had to be an elitist.”

Bellum employees claim that by 2017, McDonnell and her nephew Peter McDonnell, the company’s vice president, were giving them various reasons for not being paid on time or at all, including problems with wire transfers and bank fraud. Peter said he had no information about Bellum’s finances and eventually stopped relaying McDonnell’s excuses to the workers because he no longer believed what she said. He alleges his aunt still owes him more than $10,000.

Paychecks also bounced, according to employees. “They would write checks from an account, the money would be in there, and then they would move the money out of the account,” Brian Testa, a director and producer who worked with Bellum, told Rolling Stone. “It was a mad dash on payday.”

After about 50 people filed unpaid wage claims, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office investigated Bellum in 2017.

According to California’s Department of Industrial Relations, nearly 100 complaints from Bellum’s workers were filed against the company from 2016 to 2019, per Rolling Stone. People such as background actors and producers allege McDonnell “stiffed” them of their earnings. Because of “unresolved financial issues” the company dissolved in 2017, and some of the workers lost more than their jobs and pay; they also lost their apartments.

“I’ve known her for 15 years—she scammed so many people that I know and care about in the entertainment business,” Ted Eccles, a producer who worked with Bellum, said to Rolling Stone. “She was the most devious, sinister operator I have ever encountered. She is an absolute sociopath.”

McDonnell is also accused by the FBI of posing as a wealthy heiress related to an affluent family. “McDonnell claims to be an heir to the McDonnell Aircraft Family, with an $80 million secret trust to which she will have access,” the FBI stated.

Additionally, she is alleged to have taken off with close to $30 million, stealing nearly half of this ($14.7 million) from Banc of California after giving them fake documents and falsely claiming that, although she was about to receive money from her trust, she needed a bank loan to help until then.

Within six weeks of receiving the loan, the FBI says McDonnell had withdrawn almost all the money from her account. In fact, they say McDonnell launched several fraud schemes that took place in Orange County and Los Angeles County from July 2017 until May 2018, stealing an estimated $15 million in a “similar fashion” to the way she allegedly defrauded Banc of California.

McDonnell is accused of using some of the money for Bellum’s payroll and to pay back some former debts and loans but to also help fund her lifestyle. “This was essentially a Ponzi scheme borrowing from one party to pay off the other party you defrauded,” a lawyer for Banc of California told a judge at a later time, according to Rolling Stone. “There was also a lot of highfalutin’ lifestyle to some extent.”

McDonnell is described as being 5 feet, 7 inches tall and about 145 pounds. She has a scar on her right knee, blond hair and blue eyes. She uses several aliases that are similar to her name, such as Mary C. Carroll, Mary Carole Carroll, Mary Carroll McDonnell, Mary Carol McDonnell and Mary Carroll McDonald.

McDonnell was indicted by a grand jury in 2018 and charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. On December 12, 2018, the FBI issued a warrant for her arrest. By that time, no one could find McDonnell; she had already fled. In 2026, the FBI placed McDonnell on its Most Wanted Fraudsters list and are offering $150,000 for information leading to her arrest and conviction. It’s believed McDonnell is still using deception to obtain money, and could be in Dubai, where she has connections. She also has connections in Montgomery, Ala.

“She’s still a fugitive, and we believe she may be conducting fraud currently,” Laura Eimiller, FBI spokeswoman, told Business Insider.