A California man has some ‘splaining to do. Federal prosecutors have charged Charles Hensley with nearly a dozen counts of wire fraud and allege he swindled investors by falsely claiming to be with Desilu, the production company behind I Love Lucy and the original Star Trek.
Hensley ensnared a Los Angeles animation studio and postproduction company, an internet service provider based in Israel, and a development firm — unidentified in court papers — along with 21 individuals in the scam that ran for a year, ending in August 2018, according to indictments filed by the Justice Department on Wednesday. He allegedly duped investors out of roughly $596,000 and, in some cases, entire companies.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Nichelle Nichols Remembered by Friend and 'Star Trek' Star Dawnn Lewis
Zoe Saldana on How Nichelle Nichols Made Her Feel Safe to Play Uhura in 'Star Trek'
Whoopi Goldberg Remembers Nichelle Nichols as "First Black Person I'd Ever Seen Who Made it to the Future"
The Justice Department charged Hensley in California federal court with 11 counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faces 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count plus a mandatory two-year prison sentence for the identity theft count.
“Hensley falsely claimed to investors that he had obtained the rights to the Desilu brand, made famous by Desilu Productions, Inc. co-founders and spouses Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, and their long-running television show, “I Love Lucy,”” reads the complaint. “Hensley lured investors by claiming that he was reviving the Desilu brand through Desilu Studios, which purported to be a modern entertainment company engaged in film and television production, merchandising, content streaming, theme parks, and cinemas.”
Hensley touted that his company was “on a fast track trajectory fueled by strategic acquisitions of revenue-generating assets” and that it would conduct its initial public offering in 2018, prosecutors said. He offered stock in Desilu, which he said was valued at more than $1 billion, in exchange for ownership of companies in some instances, telling investors they would be able to sell the shares for a profit following the IPO. The stock, in reality, was worthless.
In offering materials, Hensley falsely stated that Desilu was strategically targeting companies in furtherance of a multi-pronged business plan mimicking Disney and Universal Studios. He also claimed that the company would release up to five feature films a year, with Paramount, Lionsgate and Netflix as distribution partners, and was developing a streaming platform. Revenue from sales of merchandise would fund the efforts, Hensley allegedly told investors.
The Justice Department claimed Hensley used the investments for personal use, including to buy a car title loan company and pawn shop and pay for extravagant trips to Las Vegas. It’s unknown if he’s in custody. He could not be reached for comment.
In July, Jason Van Eman, a producer and former actor, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for defrauding investors out of more than $60 million. Van Eman, operating as Weathervane Productions, offered to provide financing to investors seeking to produce independent movies, Broadway shows and music festivals, among other projects. He told his victims that he would match any contribution and use the capital to secure financing from financial institutions, the Justice Department claimed.
Click here to read the full article.
Charles Hensley claimed to be rich from creating the cold remedy Zicam, but was broke and used money from investors to line his pockets, prosecutors say.
I kept squeezing back emotional tears. I was moved that my husband wanted to help with a major shipment of clean bottled water, toilet paper, paper towels, Clorox and the like for the folks experienc…
"I use it daily to cycle while I’m working."
James Martin Nelson, 70, of Green Bay, drove 45 Lincoln Elementary fourth and fifth graders April 18 after drinking two beers.
Prisons commissioner Todd Ishee grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst staff shortages in recent memory.
Timothée Chalamet and Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino have dropped off a new...
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice has filed a motion to unseal the search warrant for President Trump's Mar-a-Lago property, and that he personally approved the search. The judge in question has asked the DoJ to refer the matter to Mr. Trump’s lawyers and revert by 3pm Friday with their consent to unseal, or otherwise. Garland stressed that the department made no comment about the Mar-a-Lago search on Wednesday.
AAA says the national average for a gallon of regular was $3.99, good news for consumers who are struggling with high prices for other essentials.
The White House will paint Republicans as stewards of special interests who are pursuing an “extreme MAGA agenda that costs families” in the coming weeks, seeking to tie the GOP to former President Trump and his “Make American Great Again” slogan. A new White House memo released on Thursday says says that Biden, Vice President Harris and other…
In this recipe video, learn how to make Mushroom and Red Wine Sauce. This flavorful, versatile sauce works wonderfully spooned over meat or potatoes, and it comes together super fast on the stovetop in a pan. Use fresh sliced mushrooms and garden fresh herbs for the best results, and adding this wonderful sauce will elevate almost any meal to restaurant quality.
Jennette McCurdy’s new memoir is a barrage of bombshells, beginning with its title: I’m Glad My Mom Died. And people are taking notice, as the book soared to #4 on Amazon’s best-seller charts (and #2 in memoirs), before the physical copy sold out on Amazon, Target, and Barnes & Noble altogether. Luckily, you can still pick up the former Nickelodeon star’s tell-all at Walmart.com, or buy the Kindle e-book on Amazon (Amazon is also expected to re-stock the book online here). TargetMore from Rollin
A Virginia man has been sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison on federal bank robbery charges in a case that tested the constitutionality of broad search warrants that use Google location history to identify people who were near the scene of a crime. Okello Chatrie, 27, was sentenced Wednesday in the 2019 robbery of the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian. Chatrie’s lawyers had argued the use of a “geofence warrant” to identify people who were near the scene of the robbery violated their constitutional protection against unreasonable searches.
Despite the fact that the image shown was credited to a Twitter handle run by a digital artist who creates memes, Kilmeade tried passing it off as real.
The entrepreneur Mark Cuban just took a stand in a debate that's hotly controversial in business circles and Congress.
The model is accused of stabbing 27-year-old Plano native Christian Obumseli in Miami.
A woman who went to wash clothes in her laundry room in Central Florida never made it out early Monday, authorities say.
Placer County Sheriff’s OfficeAs the FBI announced Thursday that it was adding 16-year-old Kiely Mai Rodni to its national missing persons database, the search for the girl—who was last seen five days ago at a campground senior farewell party—continued in earnest.Scores of people have flocked to a recreation center in Truckee, the California town from which Rodni vanished, to ask how they can help with the search, according to Cassie Hebel, a friend who spoke to The Daily Beast on behalf of the
“The victims were specifically targeted,” officials say.
The attorney of the Irvine dermatologist accused of poisoning her husband with drain cleaner claimed she was pouring Drano into a cup to fix plumbing issues. Dr. Yue Emily Yu, a 45-year-old Southern Californian dermatologist, was arrested on Aug. 4 on suspicion of poisoning her radiologist husband, Dr. Jack Chen. Screenshots, which were shared with news outlets, show Yu pouring Drano brand drain cleaner into a cup.
Memphis Police released images of a brazen crime. The pictures show three men holding high-powered weapons. Memphis Police said those men used those weapons to “open fire” and kill a man outside of a Memphis motel.