The Rise and Fall of David Bunevacz: A Master Manipulator
A grifter from Los Angeles who had spent years traveling the country as a powerful marijuana snake oil salesman and stole millions from investors was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison in November 2022.
David Bunevacz, according to federal officials, cheated investors out of around $35 million and was convicted of securities and wire fraud. The former actor’s plan, described in a criminal complaint and by The Los Angeles Times, involved securing investments for CBD vape pens by assuming the identity of a company executive and promptly spending the money on horses, casino outings, and the rent at Kylie Jenner’s former Calabasas mansion, obscuring the money’s trail.
According to the prosecution, he spent at least $920,000 in investor funds on jewelry and $46,500 on Birkin handbags while cruising around in a rotating cast of Porsches.
Bunevacz and his family rented out Kylie Jenner’s former Calabasas property for $18,000 per month for part of the outbreak in order to appear prosperous, which was critical to his plan. The Times detailed Bunevacz’s years-long deception and its impact on his victims, reporting that he duped more than 100 people and lost at least $8 million in investor money at Las Vegas casinos.
Even after being convicted on three counts of grand theft in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2016, the prosecution stated in court filings that Bunevacz frequently socialized with wealthy Los Angeles residents.
Bunevacz made money to demonstrate the lifestyle he believed the Los Angeles elite will continue to maintain, but federal agents determined he was merely blowing smoke. Bunevacz did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The bogus marijuana pen enterprises were the plan’s mainstay. When wooing investors for what he characterized as a marijuana pen business, Bunevacz utilized faked invoices, bank records, and purchase orders to conceal a prior criminal conviction and settlement.
In 2019, one of his victims traveled to California several times to meet with Bunevacz as the con man attempted to obtain a $1 million loan for one of the shell companies he used to manage. During these talks, the prosecution claimed, “Bunevacz told Victim 2A that he required an extra $1 million to procure CBD oil to fill vape pens in order to execute a pending purchase order.”
Bunevacz received his investor’s wish in March 2019, and the money were immediately utilised. Authorities believe that approximately $330,000 of the $1 million loan was used to acquire a horse named Vondel, and Bunevacz made no purchases of cannabis oil or cannabis pen parts. Bunevacz was successful when he took his show on the road.
Bunevacz’s other golden ticket, horses, allowed him to snoop around wealthy equestrian families in the United States.
His daughter trained as an equestrian for several years, and the prosecution alleges that he spent at least $1.3 million of investor funds on horse-related expenses while collecting millions from others.
Bunevacz’s ability to psychologically manipulate everyone he came into contact with was critical to his attempts.
According to The New York Times, investor and former friend Tom Danford claimed that Bunevacz and his wife Jessica exploited his family’s efforts to recover from drug and alcohol abuse and “manipulated us from the beginning of the relationship while pretending to care about us and our children’s well-being.”
According to The New York Times, Bunevacz was sentenced to 17.5 years in jail rather than the 11 years recommended by the prosecution.
Bunevacz’s dentist, who was deceived out of $800,000, said before the punishment that Bunevacz’s acts were “sociopathic,” according to The Times.
“I feel he is a different kind of criminal,” said the prosecutor.
