A California man has some ‘splaining to do. Federal prosecutors have charged Charles Hensley with nearly a dozen counts of wire fraud and allege he swindled investors by falsely claiming to be with Desilu, the production company behind I Love Lucy and the original Star Trek.
Hensley ensnared a Los Angeles animation studio and postproduction company, an internet service provider based in Israel, and a development firm — unidentified in court papers — along with 21 individuals in the scam that ran for a year, ending in August 2018, according to indictments filed by the Justice Department on Wednesday. He allegedly duped investors out of roughly $596,000 and, in some cases, entire companies.
The Justice Department charged Hensley in California federal court with 11 counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faces 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count plus a mandatory two-year prison sentence for the identity theft count.
“Hensley falsely claimed to investors that he had obtained the rights to the Desilu brand, made famous by Desilu Productions, Inc. co-founders and spouses Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, and their long-running television show, “I Love Lucy,”” reads the complaint. “Hensley lured investors by claiming that he was reviving the Desilu brand through Desilu Studios, which purported to be a modern entertainment company engaged in film and television production, merchandising, content…
