On a sunny day in April he visits a hilltop near Lake Starnberger in Germany. After a walk against the backdrop of the Bavarian mountain panorama, he treats himself to a slice of cake with vanilla ice cream at the Forsthaus Ilkahöhe, a popular hiker’s inn. He later uploads photos of the outing to Instagram, beaming over the view of the snow-capped Zugspitze Mountain.
Does someone who is on the run and wanted by the US Federal Police post something like that? It is by far not the only question this bizarre case raises. A $150,000 bounty, a severed ankle monitor, escape from US authorities and an arrest in Mexico – Bernhard Fritsch’s file reads like a Hollywood script.
On Thursday, the FBI added the 65-year-old German to its investigation List of ‘most wanted fraudsters’.
Fritsch studied audio engineering in Berlin in the 1980s before moving to New York in the 1990s. With his company MCY he wanted to sell music via the Internet – a kind of precursor to the streaming giant Spotify in the early stages of the dotcom economy.
He told this to a reporter from the German Manager Magazine in 2000 that he had already won over Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Luciano Pavarotti and the Backstreet Boys. “You wouldn’t believe who has already walked through that door,” he said at the time. Last year he met Michael Jackson in Munich.
Michael Jackson and Bernhard Fritsch at a charity event. Peter Bischoff/Getty Images
Sometime in early 2010, Fritsch moved from New York to Santa Monica, California, where he founded the company StarClub. The app, StarSite, aimed to help celebrities and influencers monetize their reach through advertising.
According to federal officials, Fritsch raised between $20 million and $30 million from investors between 2014 and 2017. To raise so much, Fritsch apparently relied on prominent connections. In California, he was seen as an experienced behind-the-scenes operator, Los Angeles Magazine reported.
During his time in Germany, the Bavarian had also built links with the celebrity world: photos show him with three-time Wimbledon winner Boris Becker – who was sentenced to prison in Britain in 2022 for tax evasion – and in 2016 Fritsch walked the red carpet with actor Wesley Snipes at Bertelsmann’s summer party in Berlin.
He also sought proximity to show business in the US. For example, in 2014 he had actor Tyrese Gibson (best known for the ‘Fast & Furious’ films) organize a private StarClub party for him. Singer Enrique Iglesias was also attached to the project and actresses Caitlin O’Connor and Elise Neal appeared at promotional events. According to the website Courthouse News, an investor later claimed in a lawsuit that Fritsch owed him $750,000 for arranging contacts with Jessica Simpson.
Tyrese Gibson and Bernhard Fritsch attend a StarClub party in 2014. Mike Windle/Getty Images for StarClub
In 2017, Fritsch was criminally charged by federal prosecutors who alleged he made false statements to investors about the app, claiming his company would make deals with major media companies like Disney and face takeover offers.
At least $7.3 million in investor money is said to have ended up in his personal accounts instead – financing a McLaren, a Rolls-Royce, a yacht and a mortgage on his villa near Malibu’s popular Carbon Beach. In April last year, a jury found him guilty of one of two fraud charges after a nine-day trial, a verdict that could have sent him to prison for up to 20 years.
And then Fritsch suddenly disappeared. According to the FBI, he cut off his court-ordered ankle monitor in June 2025 and fled to Mexico. This is especially striking because his attorney, Kirk Schenck, had argued that there was no flight risk since Fritsch would be leaving his two children behind.
According to Mexican authorities, the entrepreneur ended up in the state of Sinaloa, which is considered a stronghold of the powerful Mexican drug cartels. An arrest warrant was issued from Los Angeles and U.S. officials alerted Mexican police.
In September last year, he was caught by Mexican authorities for allegedly carrying forged documents. After his arrest, Mexican police released him on the condition that he report to the station every two weeks. Authorities say Fritsch took the opportunity to travel to Mexico City, where he boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich in early October. The FBI believes he has been in Bavaria since then.
In his absence, a federal judge in Los Angeles sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison, a $35,000 fine and nearly $26.8 million in restitution. Fritsch does not have to fear extradition. Article 16 of the German Constitution prohibits the extradition of German citizens. So as long as he doesn’t leave the country, no American arrest warrant can reach him.
The FBI placed Fritsch on its most wanted list of fraudsters. FBI
Fritsch’s partner, former actress Lucy Weist, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in June this year, and she now faces up to five years in prison.
FBI Director Kash Patel launched the ‘Most Wanted Fraudsters’ list in June as a counterpart to the classic most wanted list – this one for white-collar criminals. The goal, Patel said, is to hold “the worst of the worst” accountable. Patrick Grandy, the FBI agent leading the investigation in Los Angeles, describes California as a particularly fertile breeding ground for fraudsters – and has made it clear that the hunt for Fritsch continues. The FBI has offered a $150,000 bounty.
A request for comment sent to Fritsch via his Instagram profile was not returned.
Since his post about the mountain hike in April, Fritsch has not added anything new to his profile. It seems that he has occasionally indulged in old memories. He has captioned several posts as “Throwback”: a 1999 photo of him with Michael Jackson, another from 2001 of him shaking hands with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
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