Bryan Singer's Sex-Abuse Accuser Sentenced to Two Years in Prison Over Fraud Case

Michael Egan will serve time for a five-year scheme out of North Carolina.

Hollywood sex-abuse accuser Michael Egan, who filed since-discredited lawsuits last year against director Bryan Singer and three other Hollywood figures, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison in a North Carolina fraud case involving forgery and lying to investors over a period of five years.

According to an indictment handed up in December 2014, Egan “fraudulently induced victims to invest money for business … [then] stole a majority of the investment money to fund his lifestyle.” He was charged with securities fraud and wire fraud and pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy.

Citing “multiple acts of fraud, cunning and preying on innocent victims,” Judge Robert Conrad sentenced Egan to 24 months incarceration, two years probation and restitution in an amount in excess of $300,000, according to an observer in the courtroom, Gregg Schneider, a friend of several of the men Egan sued last year.

“Michael Egan is a predator and a thief who fabricated his personal and financial connections and his business prowess in order to perpetrate his fraud,” said U.S Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose. “He now finds himself a convicted felon who is headed to federal prison.”

Egan is likely to serve most of the 24 months, as the federal system offers no parole and only limited time off — 15 percent — for good behavior. Egan and his counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sentencing hearing lasted about an hour and a half and featured testimony by Egan; his tearful mother, Bonnie Mound; other witnesses on his behalf, who blamed his crimes on alcoholism and alleged sexual abuse; and victims, including Egan’s own former father-in-law, who described a litany of lies, theft and forged documents.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, court documents and the sentencing hearing disclose that, from August 2007 to February 2012, Egan carried out a fraudulent investment scheme by inducing more than 14 victims to enter into various fictitious business and investment contracts. He promised his investor victims that he would invest their money in various projects, including Halloween- and holiday-themed attractions, land development and television shows, among others. To further induce his victims, said the press release, Egan lied about his financial background, personal assets, professional connections and investments.

For example, said the release, Egan falsely told his victims he was a close associate and friend of the CEO of a major bank, a close associate or employee of a well-known investment mogul and that he owned a percentage of well-known hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. Instead of investing the victims’ money as promised, Egan used it to fund his lifestyle and to pay for personal expenses such as rent, his car lease, groceries and pet care.

Egan was not immediately remanded into custody. That will happen when the Federal Bureau of Prisons assigns him a facility, according to a representative for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Egan’s teen-sex allegations last year against Singer; television executives Garth Ancier and David Neuman; and entertainment executive Gary Goddard collapsed in the face of Egan’s prior contradictory testimony and were withdrawn. All four men had denied the allegations.

Ancier and Neuman were exonerated in June of this year when Egan’s former attorneys, Jeff Herman and Mark Gallagher, admitted that the teen-sex-abuse claims against the men were “untrue and provably false” and paid a seven-figure settlement to Ancier and Neuman. There were no apologies to Singer or Goddard, as neither of them filed countersuits, but Egan’s cases against all four were framed in virtually identical complaints and centered on the same purported events, time frames, locations and supposed trip(s) to Hawaii.

That settlement ended the countersuits against the attorneys, but Ancier’s and Neuman’s litigation against Egan continues. Last month, on the verge of a summary judgment decision in the Ancier case, Egan filed for bankruptcy, halting those suits, at least for now.

Email: jh@jhandel.com