What are the charges against David Brown? The Apprentice producer faces 300 years in prison for alleged $12 million fraud

David Brown is looking at up to 300 years in prison for alleged fraud.

Deadline has reported that federal officials in South Carolina arrested the executive producer of The Apprentice just today, August 28. He has now been hit with a 21-count grand jury indictment. Just yesterday, he made his appearance in court in the Palmetto State, though he didn't enter any plea.

The 39-year-old will now be extradited to Los Angeles, where he will be arraigned. The Department of Justice has stated that the acclaimed producer is now dealing with “nine counts of wire fraud, 10 counts of transactional money laundering, and two counts of aggravated identity theft."

Everything we know about David Brown's legal struggles and his alleged antics:

The Wrap and Deadline have both reported that David Brown's arrest comes on the heels of years of alleged shady behavior, including one instance where he allegedly forged Kevin Spacey's signature. The more recent accusations point to Brown using money he siphoned through phone investment deals to purchase a brand new 2025 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and other Tesla cars.

He allegedly scammed several individuals between December 2021 to August 2025, including misappropriation of company funds by transferring money from film companies into accounts he had full control over. This includes Hollywood Covid Testing LLC, a company that he operated but never really offered any testing services.

Per Variety, prosecutors are accusing David Brown of defrauding investors in real estate and film deals. They allege that he used these funds to make other lavish purchases, including paying his mortgage, installing a pool and a Sub-Zero freezer, and shelling out $70,000 in surrogacy services, among other things.

David Brown is most known for having produced the Jenna Ortega-starred 2021 film The Fallout, which won the grand jury award at South by Southwest. He also worked on The Apprentice, which is a 2024 film about Donald Trump in his earlier years.

Just last month, he announced that he would be launching a production, sales, and finance company called Screen Company:

“I believe in the power of storytelling,” he said at the time. “Our mission is to provide reliable and flexible financing that brings extraordinary stories to life.”

The Wrap has reported that, should he be convicted, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 2 decades behind bars for each of the wire fraud counts, up to a decade for each count of money laundering, and two years consecutive for each count of aggravated identity theft.

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