A 65-year-old California CEO who fled the country before sentencing has been added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list, authorities said.
Bernhard Eugen Fritsch, 65, founded the Santa Monica tech company StarClub Inc., according to federal prosecutors.
A Los Angeles jury found the tech founder guilty in April 2025 of running a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme, prosecutors said.
Fritsch persuaded investors to pour millions into technology supposedly designed to help celebrities and social media influencers monetize their brands, prosecutors said.
His pitches included major lies about the company’s revenue, its investors and potential deals with companies like Disney, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors estimated that victims lost approximately $26.8 million in the investment scheme.
Investor funds were used to finance far more than technology, authorities said. Fritsch used millions to support a lavish lifestyle that included a McLaren, a Rolls-Royce, yacht upgrades and renovations to his Malibu mansion, officials said.
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Instead of sticking around for his sentencing, the executive fled the country, according to authorities.
Fritsch fled to Mexico in June 2025 ahead of a scheduled bond revocation hearing, authorities said.
Mexican authorities later detained him with false identification, officials said. He was released with orders to regularly check in with immigration court, but he allegedly took off again, authorities said.
This time, Fritsch fled to Munich, Germany, according to authorities.
Fritsch was eventually sentenced in absentia to 15 years in federal prison, prosecutors said. He was also fined $35,000 and ordered to pay more than $26.8 million in restitution, court records show.
His girlfriend, Lucinda Jane Weist Manera, 63, has since pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, prosecutors said. Manera entered the plea for helping him hide in Mexico and flee to Germany, according to authorities.
Fritsch has now been named to the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list, officials said.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to his apprehension and conviction, authorities said.
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