From fake heiress to fugitive: Former employees detail alleged long con blamed on true crime producer

When the television production company Jeff Nimoy worked for began falling behind on payroll in 2017, the Los Angeles showrunner wasn’t alarmed

When the television production company Jeff Nimoy worked for began falling behind on payroll in 2017, the Los Angeles showrunner wasn’t alarmed.

Bellum Entertainment was a “machine,” he said, producing a steady slate of true crime shows, children’s TV and documentaries. At one point, the company had upward of 30 shows on air or in development, including “It Takes a Killer.”

Like his colleagues, Nimoy also believed the company’s CEO, Mary Carole McDonnell, was a wealthy aviation heiress with access to millions of dollars.

“I was like, there’s no way this thing’s going down, they’ve got too much capital,” said Nimoy, who believed at one point that he would spend the next 20 years of his career at Bellum.

Mary Carole McDonnell.FBIBut that dream vanished when his paychecks stopped and Bellum Entertainment abruptly shut down. Nearly a decade later, Nimoy is still waiting to be paid over $16,000 — and McDonnell is a fugitive sought by the FBI after, it says, she falsely posed as the heir to the McDonnell aircraft family to defraud California banks out of nearly $30 million total.