Film producer charged in $12M fraud scheme

Hollywood’s glitz just took a dark turn with the arrest of David Raymond Brown, a 39-year-old former Los Angeles film producer, now facing federal charges for allegedly swindling over $12 million from unsuspecting victims, as the Hollywood Reporter explains.

Brown, once tied to notable projects like the Oscar-nominated The Apprentice, is accused of running a web of deceit involving a Ponzi scheme, fake COVID-19 testing scams, and misusing film production funds, all while living large in Sherman Oaks.

The schemes, reportedly spanning from late 2021 into this year, targeted individual investors and film companies, exploiting Brown’s inflated status in the industry to funnel money into his personal accounts.

Unraveling a Hollywood fraud empire

One investor was duped into believing their money was funding real estate ventures, only to see it vanish into Brown’s pocket for personal luxuries.

From a shiny new Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon to Tesla vehicles, a house for his mother, and even $70,000 on surrogacy services, Brown’s spending spree reads like a script for a blockbuster — except this one’s a tragedy for his victims.

Adding insult to injury, he allegedly siphoned nearly a million dollars into a film project about the Symbionese Liberation Army and Patty Hearst that never saw the light of day.

Fake COVID tests, real consequences

Through a Studio City outfit called Hollywood Covid Testing LLC, Brown is accused of billing film productions for tests that were either never done or already paid for, using bogus invoices to pad his wallet.

As the Department of Justice put it, Brown charged for tests “never rendered or already paid for,” a line that hits harder than a plot twist in a thriller.

Turns out, actions have consequences, and padding your lifestyle with fraudulent cash while stiffing employees on health insurance payments is a quick way to catch the feds’ attention.

Deceptive tactics under microscope

Brown didn’t stop at fake billing; he’s also accused of running a classic Ponzi operation, using fresh investor cash to placate earlier victims, including a film production company left in the lurch.

He allegedly passed off someone else’s Internet Movie Database profile as his own to bolster his credibility, a move as desperate as a B-movie plotline.

Worse yet, federal prosecutors claim he tricked a third party into signing backdated loan documents, weaving a tangled web that even a seasoned screenwriter couldn’t unravel.

Legal reckoning on horizon?

Arrested in South Carolina, Brown made an initial court appearance there on a recent Wednesday and is now detained in a Columbia jail, awaiting transfer to California for arraignment in the coming weeks.

With a hearing set for early September, he faces a litany of charges—nine counts of wire fraud, 10 of money laundering, and two of aggravated identity theft — that could land him decades behind bars if convicted.

While progressive agendas often push for leniency in such cases, justice demands accountability; Brown’s alleged victims deserve their day in court, not a Hollywood ending where the bad guy walks free.