Antonio Sabato Jr. Says he was left speechless after learning the full scope of the federal fraud case against his former TV boss.
The actor and model, 52, who fronted the syndicated home renovation series “Fix It & Finish It,” said this week that he had no inkling of Mary Carole McDonnell’s alleged financial crimes while the show was in production. McDonnell, the former chief executive of Bellum Entertainment, is the subject of an active FBI manhunt tied to a $15 million bank fraud scheme that prosecutors say she carried out between July 2017 and May 2018.
Sabato said he was hired as host, creator and producer of the series, which sent a small crew city to city completing home makeovers for families in need on a tight five-day-a-week schedule. “It was called ‘Fix It & Finish It,’ but it was really fixing their souls,” he said. “I’ve seen grown men, grown women, just [in] tears.”
The physical demands of the production were matched by its emotional weight, Sabato recalled, though he emphasized that he was never involved in Bellum’s finances and saw no warning signs from McDonnell during meetings at the company’s Burbank office. He remembered her instead as a polished executive who spoke confidently about the network’s programming and the renovation show’s potential.
The series was abruptly canceled while still successful, a move that long puzzled the host. “It felt weird,” Sabato said. “And I said, something’s going on. I just felt something was up. And then my producer called me and said that they pulled the plug.”
He now sees that sudden end through a different lens. “I would want to ask her someday, ‘Why did you do that? Why would you go and create this hell?'”
Federal investigators allege McDonnell posed as an heir to the McDonnell Aircraft family and fabricated trust-company documents to support false claims about an $80 million secret trust. The FBI says she used those materials to obtain roughly $14.7 million from Banc of California, money she knew she was not authorized to receive and did not repay. Similar methods allegedly allowed her to defraud other financial institutions of more than $15 million.
McDonnell was indicted in 2018 on five counts of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. A federal arrest warrant was issued December 12, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The bureau’s active wanted notice states that investigators believe she is currently in Dubai.
Sabato said that he was never contacted by the FBI or other federal investigators after McDonnell’s indictment. He learned of the case only when a reporter called him this week, he said. “I didn’t know anything at all until you guys called,” he told the outlet.
The FBI describes McDonnell as a White female, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes and a scar on her right knee. The bureau urges anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact their local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate.