Dirty Money Moves: Women in White Collar Crime

In the last episode of Dirty Money Moves, we explained how Mary Carole’s antics were exposed by Channel 2 News. We also described how Mary Carole managed to get her hands on a few million dollars through a “gifting” program connected to her family trust that she claimed was worth millions. By 2017, Mary Carole’s flagship company, Bellum Entertainment, was crumbling. She owed individuals and institutions millions of dollars. But, in the face of mounting lawsuits and creditors breathing down her neck, Mary Carole didn’t seem to flinch. Instead, she got together with her lawyer friend, Barry Rothman, who had a colorful past and ties to one of Hollywood’s most infamous scandals involving pop icon Michael Jackson. The two of them worked out a plan to get even more cash and this time around, Mary Carole was going BIG. Through lies and false documents, Mary Carole shockingly got her hands on almost $15 million from Banc of California. And by the time Mary Carole likely began enjoying the fruit of her multi million dollar swindle, Barry would drop dead before the FBI could even question him about the bank scam. 

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Dirty Money Moves is a collaboration between MURDERISH and Cloud10 Media. Executive producers are Jami Rice and Sim Sarna. Research and writing by Gina Mazzolini. Matt Provenzano does the audio mixing and editing. Josh Cooke composed the music. Brian Stefanik created the podcast cover art.

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In this episode, Mary Carole parlays a television career into the creation of her own flagship business, Bellum Entertainment. Bellum earned apparent success through nationally syndicated true crime shows, but a closer look would reveal unpaid loans, bounced checks, and misclassifying employees as independent contractors to avoid tax responsibilities. Was Bellum the victim of bank fraud, as Mary Carole claimed, or was the success of the company a house of cards? Listen to find out. You won't want to miss this. 

Follow us on social media @DirtyMoneyMoves.

Check out MURDERISH, a True Crime podcast, hosted by Jami

Sources for this episode can be found at murderish.com. 

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Enter “the heiress,” Mary Carole McDonnell, who managed to hustle Banc of California out of $15 million. But that money grab, as it turns out, was not her first.

In this episode, Jami digs into Mary Carole’s past and discovers a strange career path that was peppered with financial misconduct. Jami explores Mary Carole’s upbringing, the tragic death of her sister, and some of the factors that may have motivated her to reinvent herself on a foundation of lies. If she wasn’t the heiress to the McDonnell Douglas fortune as she claimed, then who was she really? This episode peels back the first layer of that onion, so you don’t want to miss it.

Today’s Sponsor - 

BetterHelp - Special offer for Dirty Money Moves listeners: get 10% off your first month

at betterhelp.com/DIRTYMONEY

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