He went into hiding in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, was arrested by Mexican authorities, and yet managed to escape to Germany. That was the path taken by Bernhard Eugen Fritsch, a 65-year-old German businessman who defrauded investors of more than $26 million and now tops the FBI’s list of most wanted fraudsters; the agency is offering a $150,000 reward for his capture.
Fritsch founded StarClub Inc., a technology company based in Santa Monica, California. Between 2014 and 2017, he raised nearly $35 million from private investors, of which at least $7.3 million was used for personal expenses, according to the official FBI profile.
The promise of an app to monetize celebrity fame
Fritsch’s scheme centered on StarSite, an application that he claimed would allow celebrities and influencers to monetize their social media endorsements. He promised that the platform would distribute high-quality advertising content and share the revenue with those who posted it on their profiles.
To attract capital, Fritsch claimed that StarClub had generated $15 million in revenue during 2015 and was on the verge of closing a business deal with Disney. He also asserted that he had already secured investment from global banking firms.
None of this was true, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The promised technology was never developed, and financial performance figures were falsified to maintain investor confidence.
Victims of the fraud included investment banker Danny Guy and a former TikTok executive, as reported by *LA Magazine*. A single investor contributed more than $20 million and introduced Fritsch to other contacts who also invested millions, according to the ‘Los Angeles Times’.
