Convicted CEO who fled LA for Germany is now one of FBI's most wanted fraudsters

• Bernhard Fritsch rubbed elbows with stars and owned a McLaren.
• Now he’s a convicted fraudster, a fugitive, and a top target of the FBI.
• He can’t be extradited from Germany, where he fled after cutting his ankle bracelet.

On a sunny day in April, visits a hilltop near Lake Starnberg in Germany. After a hike against the backdrop of the Bavarian mountain panorama, he treats himself to a slice of cake with vanilla ice cream at the Forsthaus Ilkahöhe, a popular hikers’ inn. Later, he uploads photos of the outing to Instagram, gushing over the view of the snowy Zugspitze mountain.

Does someone who is on the run and wanted by the American federal police post something like that? It is, by far, not the only question raised by this bizarre case. A $150,000 bounty, a severed ankle monitor, escape from US authorities, and an arrest in Mexico — the Bernhard Fritsch file reads like a Hollywood script.

On Thursday, the FBI added the 65-year-old German to its “Most Wanted Fraudsters” list.

Fritsch studied audio engineering in Berlin in the 1980s before moving to New York in the 1990s. With his company MCY, he wanted to sell music over the internet — sort of a precursor to the streaming giant Spotify at an early stage of the dot-com economy.

He told a reporter from the German Manager Magazin in 2000 that he had already won over Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Luciano Pavarotti, and the Backstreet Boys to his idea. “You wouldn’t believe who’s already walked through that door,” he said at the time. He had met Michael Jackson in Munich the previous year.

Sometime in the early 2010s, Fritsch relocated from New York to Santa Monica, California, where he founded the company StarClub. Its app, StarSite, was meant to help celebrities and influencers monetize their reach through advertising.

Between 2014 and 2017, according to federal officials, Fritsch raised between $20 million and $30 million from investors. To raise that much, Fritsch apparently relied on prominent connections. In California, he was seen as a skilled operator behind the scenes, Los Angeles Magazine reported.

While spending time in Germany, the Bavarian had cultivated ties to the world of celebrities, too: Photos show him with three-time Wimbledon-winner Boris Becker — who in 2022 was sentenced to prison in the UK for tax evasion — and in 2016, Fritsch walked the red carpet with actor Wesley Snipes at Bertelsmann’s summer party in Berlin.

He also courted proximity to show business in the U.S. In 2014, for example, he had actor Tyrese Gibson (best known from the “Fast & Furious” movies) host a private StarClub party for him. Singer Enrique Iglesias was also linked to the project, and actresses Caitlin O’Connor and Elise Neal appeared at promotional events. According to the website Courthouse News, one investor later claimed in a lawsuit that Fritsch owed him $750,000 for arranging contacts with Jessica Simpson.

In 2017, Fritsch was criminally charged by federal prosecutors who alleged he made false statements to investors about the app, claiming his company would strike deals with major media companies like Disney and that acquisition offers were forthcoming.

At least $7.3 million of investor money is alleged to have ended up in his personal accounts instead — funding a McLaren, a Rolls-Royce, a yacht, and a mortgage on his villa near the popular Carbon Beach in Malibu. In April last year, after a nine-day trial, a jury found him guilty on one of two counts of wire fraud, a verdict for which he could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

And then, suddenly, Fritsch was gone. In June 2025, according to the FBI, he cut off his court-ordered ankle monitor and fled to Mexico. This is particularly striking given that his attorney, Kirk Schenck, had argued there was no flight risk, since Fritsch would be leaving his two children behind.

According to Mexican authorities, the entrepreneur turned up, of all places, in the state of Sinaloa — considered a stronghold of Mexico’s powerful drug cartels. An arrest warrant from Los Angeles followed, and American officials alerted Mexican police.

In September of last year, Mexican authorities caught him — allegedly carrying forged documents. After his arrest, Mexican police released him on the condition that he check in at the station every two weeks. Authorities say Fritsch used the opportunity to travel to Mexico City, where in early October he boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich. The FBI believes he has been in Bavaria ever since.

In his absence, a federal judge in Los Angeles sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison, a $35,000 fine, and nearly $26.8 million in restitution. Fritsch need not fear extradition. Article 16 of Germany’s constitutional Law forbids the extradition of German citizens. So as long as he doesn’t leave the country, no US arrest warrant can reach him.

Fritsch’s partner, former actress Lucy Weist, pleaded guilty in June of this year to being an accessory after the fact, and she now faces up to five years in prison.

FBI Director Kash Patel in June launched the “Most Wanted Fraudsters” list as a counterpart to the classic most-wanted list — this one for white-collar criminals. The goal, Patel said, is to hold “the worst of the worst” accountable. Patrick Grandy, the FBI agent leading the investigation in Los Angeles, describes California as especially fertile ground for fraudsters — and has made clear that the hunt for Fritsch continues. The feds have put up a $150,000 bounty.

A request for comment sent to Fritsch via his Instagram profile was not answered.

Since his post about the mountain walk in April, Fritsch hasn’t uploaded anything new to his profile. He does seem to have been indulging in old memories from time to time. He has captioned several posts “Throwback”: One, a photo from 1999 showing him with Michael Jackson, another from 2001 showing him shaking hands with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

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