A Hollywood producer bilked movie and enterprise companions out of $12 million, claiming he was utilizing their cash to work on motion pictures or different reputable enterprises, however as an alternative utilizing it to purchase costly vehicles, homes and even a surrogate, prosecutors alleged Wednesday.
David Brown labored for years as a producer of indie Hollywood productions, burnishing his credentials as a producer of the movie competition darling “The Fallout,” starring Jenna Ortega, which gained the narrative function competitors at South by Southwest, in addition to of “The Apprentice,” the film concerning the rise of Donald Trump.
However whilst Brown gave the impression to be placing collectively a profitable producing profession, federal prosecutors mentioned, he was additionally defrauding quite a few victims by siphoning funds that belonged to manufacturing firms and transferring the cash to himself or companies he managed.
In an e mail to The Instances for a 2023 article that documented the path of fraud allegations that dogged him, Brown mentioned he had made errors up to now, however denied defrauding anybody.
“I needed to work actually exhausting to get the place I’m at the moment,” he mentioned. “I needed to overcome loads. I needed to struggle for my place. … I’m not some dangerous man.”
Brown was indicted Wednesday on 21 counts of wire fraud, transactional cash laundering and aggravated id theft. He had his first court docket look in South Carolina.
Prosecutors alleged that Brown, who lived in Sherman Oaks, used a sequence of techniques to defraud his enterprise companions out of their cash.
He satisfied one sufferer to place cash into an organization known as Movie Holdings Capital, which was purported to finance movie initiatives. However Brown as an alternative took the individual’s cash and used it for “sustaining his way of life and repaying prior victims … in a Ponzi-like scheme,” prosecutors mentioned.
In different cases, Brown used manufacturing firm funds to pay Hollywood Covid Testing, an organization he managed, “for providers by no means rendered or already paid for,” prosecutors mentioned.
He additionally informed one sufferer that they may pool cash and make a enterprise flipping homes. He contributed little to the enterprise and used a number of the sufferer’s cash for different functions, prosecutors mentioned.
Brown made positive to hide his checkered previous from potential enterprise companions. He tried to not allow them to know concerning the 2023 article in The Instances, or concerning the in depth litigation filed in opposition to him, in response to federal prosecutors.
The 2023 article — for which The Instances interviewed greater than 30 folks — detailed a sequence of allegations in opposition to Brown from his movie companions, together with that he cast Kevin Spacey’s signature and informed movie traders that Spacey had agreed to behave as a fundamental character in a movie for simply $100,000. However Spacey had not signed on to the movie and didn’t even know what it was, his former supervisor informed The Instances. Brown denied forging Spacey’s signature.
Brown used the cash he stole from his victims to make extravagant purchases, prosecutors mentioned.
He purchased a 2025 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and three Teslas, together with a 2024 Cybertruck, prosecutors alleged. He used the funds to make mortgage funds on his dwelling and to rework the house and used about $100,000 to put in a pool, prosecutors mentioned.
He even purchased a home for his mom utilizing the ill-gotten money, prosecutors alleged.
On high of that, Brown additionally allegedly used stolen cash to pay $70,000 for surrogacy, non-public faculty tuition for his youngster and different providers.
In all, he stole greater than $12 million from his victims, prosecutors alleged.
Brown is in federal custody in South Carolina and can enter a plea to the fees at his arraignment within the coming weeks, in response to the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the Central District of California.
