Two Men Indicted in Movie Financing Scam

Baltimore, Maryland – In a brazen scheme to defraud lenders, two men have been charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud in connection with a movie financing scam.

Darryl Wesley Clements, 50, of Detroit, Michigan, and Rodney Patrick Dunn, 40, of Elkridge, Maryland, allegedly worked together to deceive lenders into providing millions of dollars in financing for a movie.

According to the indictment, the scheme involved the creation of fake documents and email accounts, as well as the use of forged signatures and altered checks. The defendants allegedly used these tactics to convince lenders that a movie production company, CityScope Productions, LLC, had secured $13 million in financing for a movie called ‘Season Tickets.’

However, in reality, no such financing had been secured, and the defendants used the fake documents to extract $2.5 million from a California-based finance company in April 2011. The indictment alleges that Dunn, who was employed at a bank that received funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), used his position to verify the existence of the phony escrow accounts to the finance company.

Both defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and an initial appearance is scheduled for May 6, 2016, before a U.S. District Court in Baltimore. An indictment is not a finding of guilt, and an individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Christy Goldsmith Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).

“Rodney Dunn is charged with using his employment at a TARP bank to defraud lenders in a movie production financing scheme,” said Christy Goldsmith Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). “Co-conspirator Darryl Clements allegedly created fake documents showing that $13 million in financing had been secured for the movie. Dunn then allegedly confirmed to the lenders that the non-existent funding was held in escrow accounts at the TARP bank; on that same day the lenders wired $2.5 million for the movie.”

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