Film producer David Brown charged in $12 million fraud scheme

Hollywood producer David Raymond Brown has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of defrauding victims out of more than $12 million, including misusing movie production funds, according to prosecutors.

Brown, 39, who has also gone by the names David Brown Levy and David Addison Brown, was arrested Wednesday in South Carolina, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He faces nine counts of wire fraud, 10 counts of money laundering, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

Brown has film credits as a producer on The Fallout (2021), starring Jenna Ortega, and as an executive producer on The Apprentice (2024), a film about a young Donald Trump. He was also credited as an executive producer on the Sundance feature After the Wedding, starring Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Billy Crudup.

Prosecutors said Brown misappropriated funds from independent film projects, diverted money from investors, and used it to pay for personal expenses such as luxury cars, a home remodel, and private school tuition.

According to court records, Brown also operated a Studio City company called Hollywood Covid Testing LLC, which collected payments from film productions for testing services that were never provided or were billed multiple times.

Prosecutors said he further deceived investors by inflating his résumé, using another person’s IMDb profile to claim credits as his own, and concealing lawsuits and fraud allegations previously reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Brown also solicited money from two investors under false pretenses, including claims that he would pool money for real estate ventures and operate a film finance company called Film Holdings Capital. In both cases, prosecutors said Brown contributed little of his own money and used much of the victims’ funds to pay off others in a Ponzi-like scheme.

Instead of supporting film productions, Brown allegedly used victims’ money to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, several Teslas including a 2024 Cybertruck, and spending nearly $100,000 on a swimming pool.

Prosecutors said he also purchased a home for his mother, covered family expenses, and paid more than $70,000 for surrogacy services.

If convicted, Brown faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count, up to 10 years for each money laundering count, and a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence for each aggravated identity theft count.