LOS ANGELES — A former San Fernando Valley resident who worked as a producer and accountant in the movie business was arrested Wednesday on federal charges alleging he defrauded victims out of more than $12 million, in part by causing them to pay for COVID-19 testing that never occurred and misappropriating funds from film projects for his own use.
David Raymond Brown, 39, a onetime Sherman Oaks resident now living in West Columbia, South Carolina, is charged in L.A. federal court with nine counts of wire fraud, 10 counts of transactional money laundering, and two counts of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Brown made his initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina. Brown’s arraignment is expected in the coming weeks in downtown Los Angeles.
If convicted of all charges, Brown would face the possibility of decades in federal prison, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Brown worked in the movie industry in various roles, including as a producer, unit production manager, and production accountant. He worked on various independent film projects to which he owed a fiduciary duty to their production companies.
From December 2021 to August 2025, federal prosecutors allege, Brown defrauded his victims via several methods, including by misappropriating funds belonging to film production companies by causing money to be transferred from the companies’ financial accounts to accounts that Brown controlled.
To create the false impression that the misappropriated funds were to be used for legitimate production expenses, Brown allegedly caused the film production companies to make payments to Hollywood Covid Testing LLC, a Studio City-based company he organized and operated, for services never rendered or already paid for, including by using false or duplicative invoices, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors contend Brown spent a substantial portion of victim-investors’ money on maintaining his lifestyle and repaying prior victims in a Ponzi-like scheme.
To inflate his résumé and credibility, and to induce a victim to give him more money, Brown provided a copy of another person’s IMDb profile, which Brown claimed to be his own. He also concealed numerous lawsuits filed against him that alleged fraud, federal prosecutors said.
Instead of using victims’ money on film productions as promised, Brown allegedly used their funds to purchase vehicles such as a 2025 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and three Teslas, including a 2024 Cybertruck. He also made mortgage payments on his personal residence and on home remodeling, including nearly $99,000 for the installation of a pool, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges.
Federal prosecutors also contend that Brown used his victims’ money to buy a house for his mother, make payments to members of his family, pay for more than $70,000 on surrogacy and related services, private school tuition payments, and more than $970,000 in payments pertaining to a film project relating to the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
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