Michigan Woman on FBI Most Wanted List for $30M California Scam

This story has the makings of the next special on Investigation Discovery. A 73-year-old Michigan native has found herself on the FBI's most wanted list after allegedly pulling off a multi-million-dollar scam against banks in California.

And the deeper you go into this story, the more unbelievable it gets! It's even being covered by People Magazine.

Michigan Native Wanted for Bank Scams in California

According to the FBI, Mary Carole McDonnell, 73, allegedly spent nearly a year convincing banks in Los Angeles and Orange County that she was sitting on an enormous family fortune. Investigators say she posed as an heir to the McDonnell Aircraft family and claimed she would soon gain access to an $80 million “secret trust.” That trust didn’t exist, but the money she walked away with did.

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Between July 2017 and May 2018, she allegedly pulled about $14.7 million from Banc of California alone. Investigators say she repeated the scheme at other financial institutions, resulting in over $15 million in additional losses—bringing the total to nearly $30 million. By December 2018, a federal warrant was issued for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, and she disappeared.

The FBI believes she is now in Dubai and has placed her on its Most Wanted List.

From TV Producer to Fugitive

And here’s the really wild part. According to KTLA, McDonnell once worked as a television producer for the now-defunct Bellum Entertainment LLC, the company behind shows like I Married a Murderer and It Takes a Killer. In 2017, Deadline reported the company was accused of not paying employees and under investigation by the California Labor Commission.

It’s almost too on-the-nose for a true-crime plot twist.

FBI Details and Physical Description

The FBI didn't say where in Michigan she's from—I wish I knew, I'm so curious! But they did share a birthdate she's been using is Dec. 28, 1951. McDonnell is described as 5'7" tall, blonde, with blue eyes and a scar on her right knee.

Anyone with information on McDonnell is asked to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

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