AUBURN – A judge who says “substantial fraud” was proved is ordering a Marilyn Monroe documentary producer to repay more than $500,000 to the star’s first husband’s family and to investors in the movie.

Producer Schani Krug failed to show up at a hearing Thursday in Androscoggin County Superior Court in which Justice Joyce Wheeler issued the judgment against him.

Krug allegedly collected thousands of dollars from investors for the little-seen documentary, which was made in 2003. The judge said money must be repaid with interest to investors and to heirs of Monroe’s first husband, James Dougherty, who lived in Auburn and died in 2006.

Lawyers said Krug spent investors’ money on himself and they never received proceeds from the documentary. In a 2006 interview with the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Krug denied the allegations.