The death of fraudster and fake producer Pat Andrew is shrouded in mystery for one year | Culture

It is said that cinema has magic. But the one produced by Pat Andrew in Malaga was only capable of one spell: to evaporate. First, he offered big words. He mentioned Amazon, Hollywood, Warner or his alleged friend Steven Spielberg. He promised box office hits, fame and million-dollar profits. However, he never even got around to setting up the camera. Twenty professionals told this newspaper over the last year and a half how they lost hope, time and money because of a scam that was always identical in its format and outcome. So much so that the lights, turned off on the sets, ended up turning on in the courts.

Andrew then disappeared for the last time. Those close to him reported his death and cremation exactly one year ago, on April 28, 2023. There are documents and testimonies to believe it. And, at the same time, a history of deceptions, name changes (Pat Austin, Augustus…), convictions and previous escapes in France, Ireland or the USA invites skepticism.

The truth is that the Spanish police could not confirm his death, which is why the judge placed him on the wanted list on September 29 for alleged continued fraud. At the end of February, this newspaper was able to confirm with an official source that the order was still in force, with no known progress. Meanwhile, the Swiss justice system is gathering information and questions on another front of the case. And the labour inspection in Malaga is also moving forward, following another lawsuit from several victims for non-payment. That is why the story is still waiting to be closed: it may be the final trick of the American illusionist. Or the definitive resolution of the enigma may already rest underground. Along with all its secrets.

One of the cases that Andrew has pending is in the hands of the Investigating Court number 10 of Malaga. In the court order, to which EL PAÍS has had access, it is explained that he stayed between January and February 2022 at the NH hotel in the city, on San Jacinto Street. He registered as the executive director of a production company and requested a suite-type room for himself and two other regular rooms for a scriptwriter and a photographer. They all used them for several days, “but then he left and did not pay anything,” explains the judge in charge of the court, Estela Gómez, who after the hotel’s complaint tried to take his statement as an investigated person. He was never located. In August of the same year he was wanted and in March 2023 he was arrested by the National Police, according to police sources. He invoked his right not to testify.

At the end of the investigation, the prosecutor requested a two-year prison sentence for continued fraud, as well as compensation to the hotel for the amount left unpaid: 7,515 euros. The document could never be served on Andrew because the Prosecutor’s Office could not find it either. When they tried to notify him of the opening of the oral trial, the same thing happened. The judge did inform the lawyer María Natividad de Leiva, so that she could pass it on to her client, but then the lawyer reported that he had died, although without a certificate confirming this.

Gómez then sent a letter to the National Police to inform them of the situation of the accused and the investigators assured that they had no clue of his death and that they could not find him either. “The searches are going very well and most people are located, but who knows where he is. Even if he were abroad they would find him. Today we do not know where he could be,” the judge stressed. Police sources indicate that Andrew has an open search and appearance order, but that he has not been located.

However, sources close to the producer sent this newspaper a death certificate. In addition to the date and name, the profession and country of birth match. Contacted by telephone, the registry service of West Sussex County, England, confirmed that it had issued the document. And a worker at the St Catherine clinic, south of London, where the producer died according to the document, responded: “Due to privacy laws and practices in the United Kingdom, I can only confirm the information that is already in the public domain, that is, what is obtained from the certificate.” EL PAÍS contacted the National Police three times in recent months, to ask what steps were taken to find Andrew, why they decided not to confirm his death and if they had proof of the certificate. They never received a response.

“He’s dead, it’s over. I was there,” says Trudi Rothwell on the phone. Andrew’s closest collaborator only makes a few statements before hanging up. “I worked as his secretary for 20 years, I looked after his children. I have nothing to do with anything he did, my life is destroyed,” she adds. She refuses to comment on all the accusations against the alleged producer. And against herself, since many victims implicate her as a key pillar of the alleged scam. They describe her as “a lover, a front man or a partner.” And they point out that she also used multiple identities: Anne Grey, Susan Handler or Lucy Carver.

Too much chaos, even for its protagonist. One day, Rothwell mistakenly signed an email with this name to two employees of Wanda-Halcyon, the company that Andrew then ran. They, however, knew her as Annie Grey. All they had to do was go to Google to make the house of lies fall: they found all the skeletons that the producer kept in the closet. When they notified George Van Mellaert, the Swiss writer’s entire life collapsed. How many times had he wondered why all the money that Andrew had received was never translated into the promised audiovisual adaptation of his saga of novels? Corruption in justice. After several deliveries, for a total of 497,600 euros lost, I finally received a response. The worst one.

“I don’t believe it at all. He makes everything up,” Van Mellaert told EL PAÍS months ago about Andrew’s alleged death. He described the moment he found out about the deception: “Talking about a shock “That would be an understatement. My world collapsed. I felt sick. The betrayals, the manipulation, the abuse I experienced made it a hundred times worse than if he had suddenly stolen that amount from me.” Once the scam was discovered, she filed a complaint against the producer and Rothwell before the criminal division of the Valais cantonal court in her country.

After some legal back-and-forth, the writer maintains that the case is admissible: the prosecutor plans to begin questioning witnesses and people with information in Switzerland and Spain in May, including Rothwell. At the end of February, she claimed, somewhat surprised, that no one had contacted her: “The police never spoke to me or looked for me. Everyone has my mobile number. I lived in Spain for eight years.”

Van Mellaert and his lawyer also insist on the importance of investigating the account that Andrew kept in Malaga at the BBVA bank. And behind the money is also the lawsuit for non-payment that several victims, such as the health professional Juan Martín Romo or the communications expert José Carmelo Morillas, filed against Andrew and another of his companies, Global Operations Television.

Because the American repeated the modus operandibut he was looking at many profiles: actresses, musicians, photographers, hotels, directors of casting or owners of sets ended up entangled in his network. And giving him time, free work and even bank transfers. Many, to this day, still do not know which part of the story was real. If there was any. A week ago, a labor inspector in Malaga summoned the victims to gather information, in the first official move in the case in months.

So the list goes on. A non-payment and escape in Paris, decades ago, when Andrew claimed to be a diplomat. A writer who convinced him to publish his first novel, in 2006 in Dublin, only to back out after she had already written it. A sentence never fulfilled to pay more than six million dollars, in 2014 in New York, for illicit enrichment, breach of contracts, extortion and various frauds to three plaintiffs. And, now, the Spanish and Swiss fronts.

But many more questions remain: Andrew claimed to have grown up on Long Island, the son of an Irish mother and an Italian father; he swore he had worked in espionage and served in the Gulf War and in the former Yugoslavia; he was, in a story that varied depending on the interlocutor, an investment banker, a former soldier, an editor or a producer. Perhaps he was all of these. Or, rather, nothing. We may never know. Unless the script has one last surprise in store.