Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Dane Cook 's unfunny family business

By April MacIntyre Jan 1, 2009, 17:52 GMT

Comic actor Dane Cook\'s half-brother allegedly stole more than $10 million from him. © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos

Comic actor Dane Cook's half-brother allegedly stole more than $10 million from him.

Boston-area newspapers including the Herald and the Globe report that Darryl McCauley, 43, siphoned off the milions recently. McCauley has managed Cook over a 15+ year period and was working with him at the inception of his career.

The thefts include a forged $3 million check as he was being ousted as Cook's business manager, prosecutors said yesterday.

McCauley managed Cook's finances and allegedly stole the money from July 2007 to early December by illicit wire transfers to his personal accounts that routinely exceeded $250,000.  He was reportedly paid $150,000 annually for his services.

The Globe reports that prosecutors revealed that McCauley "wrote checks to himself from Cook's bank acocunts, and earlier this month signed Cook's name to a $3 million check and cashed it at a Bank of America branch in Boston's Financial District."

"None of these moves was authorized by Mr. Cook," Assistant Attorney General Richard D. Grundy said yesterday at Woburn District Court, where McCauley pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A stoic and stone-faced McCauley was ordered to surrender his passport and is being held on $3 million cash bail. He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 15.

Cook's lawyer, Joseph Zwicker, said Cook "felt betrayed by his relative's actions" according to the Globe report.

"These were unapproved, unauthorized transactions," he said. "He's [Cook] obviously very distraught."

McCauley denies any wrong doing, and reportedly has no criminal record.

The discrepancies were discovered after McCauley was recently replaced by a California-based manager. Despite repeated requests from Cook for his records, McCauley refused to turn over Cook's paperwork.  McCauley ignored an urgent request for the records in November and instead forged Cook's signature on a check; on Dec. 5, McCauley then withdrew the entire amount in cash.

The Globe claimed McCauley booked planes, trains and automobiles all over the United States in a cross-country trip.

A huge cache of money ($800,000) was subsequently discovered in McCauley's second home in Maine.

Investigators are reportedly examining numerous questionable financial doings of McCauley.