On April 10, 2024, the investor Ed Fleming received texts from a business partner of his. “$2M in first position, 20% premium,” the first said. Then others: “Just got this request. High profile movie. They would also pay us a $250,000 producer fee. Channing Tatum film.” Three months before, Fleming had been introduced by mutual acquaintance to Dave Brown. Their business partnership seemed apt: Fleming, who lives in Golden, specialized in lending money to films, and Brown was a producer looking to start a movie lending firm. Though initially hesitant, Fleming was persuaded by Brown’s talk of Hollywood connections and expected rates of return. As he explained in a recent affidavit, “Brown had convinced me that he was a reputable and well-established producer in the movie entertainment industry.” Brown produced 2021’s “The Fallout,” in which Jenna Ortega plays a school shooting survivor. Awards at South by Southwest followed, enhancing his reputation. He was an executive producer on “The Apprentice,” an unflattering Donald Trump biopic released last year. Brown and Fleming’s company, initially called Film Holdings Capital and later renamed ScreenFund, offers short-term bridge and mezzanine loans to movie projects that are short on cash. Within weeks of the company’s founding, Brown had takers, he told Fleming. “I’m doing this $420,000 bridge loan on Friday. I can do $320,000 if you want to do $100,000. 70% split me, 30% you. Movie called Screamboat. Lionsgate theatrical movie,” he texted on April 11, 2024, referring to a horror comedy reimagining of a Mickey Mouse cartoon. And so it went, just as the two had planned. Brown would find films in need of emergency funds, he would let Fleming and Fleming’s assistant know, and money would be moved over. By the end of 2024, Fleming had sent $11.3 million of his savings via 34 wire transfers. But he was growing suspicious. He found documentation for the loans to be lacking and, when Fleming looked closer, he saw that Brown was no longer placing money in their joint bank account but rather in new accounts that Brown had opened and Brown controlled. When Fleming, 56, demanded financial documents and proceeds from their business in January and February, he said he was strung along and rebuffed. He wrote in a March 5 affidavit: “Brown gaslights me in some form of misdirection and states that he actually has provided me with everything and they are already in my possession. This is an absolute falsehood.” “I seem to have now lost nearly my entire life savings to this man’s deception,” he added. Reached by email, Brown said that he has found a buyer for Fleming’s loan proceeds and can return Fleming’s money to him, plus 10%, in one year. Fleming said this is “not an honest proposal” but rather an attempt “to kick the can down the road for another year.” “Mr. Fleming has made his mind up with zero facts. We sent all our loans to his counsel along with executed loan docs, lien copies, outgoing wire proofs, U.S. copyright mortgages, etc. He’s assuming wrongdoing based off past settled litigations,” Brown told BusinessDen. In 2023, the Los Angeles Times published a lengthy article on Brown, detailing court judgments of $5 million against him and his companies, along with seven other lawsuits and two criminal cases, several of which were settled confidentially. The court cases allege fraud and unpaid bills related to films he has financed or produced. Brown calls the article “a hit piece.” Fleming believes that his $11.3 million has been used by Brown “to pay off settlements in other fraud cases” and “fund false loans.” Brown said he is being unfairly maligned. “Every penny of his capital went to our clients’ loans,” the producer claimed after sending hundreds of pages of documents for several loans. (Fleming said he believes they are forgeries.) “The loans that were paid back he approved being rolled over to new loans, in writing. The other two loans he’s upset about are loans we ended up extending or renewing,” Brown said. 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But he’s someone I cared for as a partner and I do not think he’s thinking things clearly,” Brown, 38, explained to BusinessDen. “For the past year, he’s had access to a Google Drive with each (loan) deal and all related documents.” Through his attorney, Fleming declined to be interviewed. He initially sued Brown in Denver’s federal court and sought a judge’s injunction forcing Brown to hold onto any money that might belong to Fleming while the case plays out. Just before a hearing on that injunction request, Brown asked that the case be moved to a California court. It was on March 12. Fleming’s lawyer is Chris Young with the CYLG firm, which has offices in Denver and L.A. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox. ...read more read less