Michael F. Egan & lawyer Jerry Herman

Bryan Singer has had one hell of a year – with highs including scoring his biggest hit ever with X-Men: Days Of Future Past, but also gargantuan lows which involved being accused of forced rape and underage sex, with the main accuser being a man called Michael Egan, who said the events took place in the late 1990s when he was a 17 and living in LA.

In the months after the accusations against Singer and three other men were very publicly revealed – complete with press conferences and suggestions this was just the beginning of massive takedown of Hollywood pederasts – the whole thing collapsed, largely because of huge contradictions and problems with Egan’s testimony, where it became clear he probably wasn’t telling the truth. He’s currently facing lawsuits from some of those he accused alleging malicious prosecution.

Now Egan has even bigger problems as The Charlotte Observer reports (via Towleroad), that he’s being indicted on investment fraud charges in what appears to be a five-year long Ponzi Scheme that he ran.

The Observer reports: ‘In the indictment handed down in Charlotte this week, Egan is accused of a five-year financial scheme in which he attracted investors by lying about his assets – Egan claimed he owned percentages of well-known hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, among other claims – and his connections to banking executives and investment moguls.

‘He promised customers returns from investments in Halloween-theme attractions, television shows and land development. Instead, Egan used the capital to pay rent, buy groceries, underwrite medical bills and restaurant tabs, and take care of his pets, prosecutors say.

‘Egan hid his activity, investigators say, by creating account statements to reflect fraudulent balances.

‘The indictment charges him with securities fraud and wire fraud. He is to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer on Jan. 13.’

If convicted he could face up to 40 years in prison and a fine of $5.25 million if convicted.

While it’s easy to see Egan purely as a liar and villain in all this, it should be remembered that it appears he really was subjected to sexual abuse as a teenager at the hands of men who were convicted of child sex offences around a decade ago (however, the specifics of his recent accusations have been somewhat discredited, and there’s no proof Singer was involved). Of course it’s impossible to say how much this effected him and whether if helped lead to what appears to be a pattern of increasingly risky criminal behaviour (assuming he did it, of course).