Malibu fraudster fled the U.S. to avoid prison. His girlfriend faces jail time for helping him

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Set us as preferred After he was convicted of defrauding investors out of more than $20 million, Bernhard Eugen Fritsch fled the U.S.to avoid an expected 15-year prison sentence.

Now, his girlfriend has been ensnared in the scheme, and she could serve up to five years behind bars while he remains abroad, according to a news release from the U.S.attorney’s office for the Central District of California.

Lucinda Jane Weist Manera, 63, pleaded guilty Monday to one felony count of accessory after the fact, which prosecutors say included helping Fritsch flee the country after his April 2025 federal conviction for wire fraud, according to prosecutors.Prosecutors say that Manera helped Fritsch hide from federal law enforcement in Mexico before he escaped to his native Germany.

California Bernhard Eugen Fritsch was found guilty of one count of wire fraud.Prosecutors allege he fraudulently obtained investments in his tech company, then used the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle.Manera “assisted Fritsch with the purpose of hindering and preventing Fritsch’s apprehension and punishment, including by lying to FBI special agents,” prosecutors wrote in a statement.

She made payments totaling almost $8,000 from June to September 2025, prosecutors said, to someone who owned the home where Fritsch was “hiding out” in Mexico and to help pay for a Mexican hotel where he stayed.She also was accused of researching, on Fritsch’s behalf, how he could make his way to Germany, which typically prohibits the extradition of its citizens, according to prosecutors.Before the wire fraud conviction, Fritsch, now 64, had been living in Malibu — where prosecutors say his scheme helped fund a lavish lifestyle that included a Rolls-Royce, a mansion by Carbon Beach and a yacht.

A federal jury convicted him of defrauding investors out of more...