Some people have gone to prison for game
show fraud.
>> That is a That is a bold-faced lie. So,
I'm going 36 months. That's it. 36
months.
>> Hello, Matt Cox. How are you? Yeah, I am
excellent. It's so nice It's so long
since I've seen you last, but it's good
to see you. It does feel like forever.
It does.
Uh before we kind of get into the thick
of things, you a gambler?
I No, I've been a game I gambled one
time No, a couple times. I think I
played like two two or three hands of
blackjack.
>> In Vegas. Okay. Yeah. You like Vegas?
I mean, I like going to Vegas, but I
don't go to gamble. I go because I like
the museums and I like the uh you know,
you go to the the What is it? The Hoover
Dam and
you know, you can go You know, I like to
do the stuff. The stuff.
>> Okay, cool. Well, today's
episode that we're going to do together
we'll talk about the game and how it
kind of plays out
is themed. Every story that we're going
to talk about involves gambling, you
know, either as the centerpiece or
peripherally or Vegas, stuff like that.
And so, it's kind of a themed episode,
Vegas and gambling. Every story's going
to involve that. And the way it works is
this. I'm going to be asking you a
series telling you about a series of
stories. I'm going to explain to you
exactly what the crime was, what the bad
guys did, how they were discovered if I
know, the investigation itself, and then
you're going to tell me
how much their sentence was. And if
you're within 20% then you get a point
and your passing score is 50% of the
stories that I'm going to give you
today.
>> You would think that would be easy.
But I really think I really bombed the
last one.
>> one did not go well. It went so poorly
we ended up cutting the episode off with
the last two stories because we went a
little long and you were mathematically
eliminated from competition.
>> Yeah. Yeah. But we'll see if you can
redeem that today. After all, the people
watching are your fans and not mine.
So, I'm rooting for you. I know you
don't think so, but I'm rooting for you.
It's not me against you. It's you
against logic and reason.
Sounds good. What state in the US, Matt
Cox, do you think has the most
interracial marriages?
I'm going to go with
um
Alabama?
Alabama's your guess?
I'm going to I'm going to guess
California. You're going to guess
California?
You both would be wrong.
>> Okay. The correct answer is Hawaii. Real
What Wait, what kind of interrace What
interrace Wait a minute. I was thinking
white and black. I know that's what you
were thinking, but there are other
races.
Uh okay. Uh this this Yeah, you got to
Uh I guess I special agent in Hawaii for
7 years and and it's a majority, you
know, Asian Pacific Islander place to be
and a lot of the people there are
married across um
different races. But even within the
Asian Pacific Islanders, there are
people who because of the because
there've been so many interracial
marriages there who kind of have one
foot firmly planned, you know, you'll
have a guy who's half German, half
Filipino and
And so, there's a fellow out there
in Hawaii named Jason Pasqua that I
investigated and he was part Japanese
and part Filipino. To such an extent and
I'm going somewhere with this that he
was the president of the Filipino
Chamber of Commerce for the state of
Hawaii and he was the treasurer for the
Japanese Chamber of Commerce at the same
time. Okay. He also ran for office a
couple times. I don't think that went
particularly well and he was a I'm not
going to say war hero, but he served in
the military and was called up to either
the Iraq or Afghanistan war during the
global war on terror and served
admirably. This guy was
exactly like the pillar of the community
you would think. Like again, business
leader,
you know, veteran, local boy. People
liked Jason Pasqua. It was very easy
when he started offering people
investment returns in an investment
program. He's offering them 25 to 50% a
year secured by promissory notes. So,
he's offering them 20 to 20 25 to 50%
investment returns.
>> Returns.
>> Returns. Yeah, so you invest a thousand
bucks, you're going to get a thousand
five hundred up to a thousand five
hundred, but guaranteed.
>> perfectly legal. That happens that seems
to be a
>> Absolutely. And he's writing promissory
notes to them and with a personal
guarantee behind it. So, not only was it
he's a personally guaranteeing it which
gave people a sense of comfort. Mhm. The
people of Hawaii are lovely people, Matt
Cox, but they're not always the most
financially sophisticated investors.
Very trusting. And the ones who asked
Jason, and they all did, "What do you
How are you going to make this kind of
money?" He said, "I have this business
where we're going I'm going to be
hosting after parties in Las Vegas.
And the after parties in Las Vegas are
going to have a cover charge on the door
at nightclubs in Vegas. So, Beyoncé goes
to concert in Las Vegas, we're going to
host the after party that the
celebrities will come to as well as the
people who went to the concert and we're
going to make a fortune and you're going
to get 25 to 50% of your money."
The people of Hawaii love Las Vegas.
A skeptical person would make some
comment about Asian people and
degenerate gambling. I'm not going to
say that because everyone makes their
own decisions, but there's something
about
the the culture in Hawaii that people
there love gambling and gambling's not
legal in Hawaii. It's legal in Las
Vegas. So, when they go on vacation from
the nicest place on planet Earth
arguably in Hawaii, they're going to
Vegas.
>> To Sin City. Sin City to gamble. Mhm.
What's funny is that they all stay in
the same like three hotels in downtown
and so they see all the same people they
knew in their community in Hawaii and
and they and they spend all the time
there eating like spam musubi and Hawaii
food in at these casinos.
Anyway, he's offering this Las Vegas
after party investment program saying
it's going to be filled with celebrities
and models. He wants to share his wealth
with his investors.
29 different investors
kicked him 1.4 million dollars.
>> Wow. They gave him.
And um
And the the twist ending is that he did
not spend this on hosting after parties,
but he did spend it in Las Vegas
gambling and drinking at nightclubs. He
gets the bottle service at the
nightclubs. You know that thing where
where you're kind of behind the rope and
they and you and your friends are kind
of chilling out on the couch and he
would bring and they bring you like a
bottle of liquor, Dom Perignon or
whatever. Not my thing.
>> That was his thing. Jason was a guy who
was always willing to pick up the tab.
With other people's money. Well, sure. I
mean, as far as anyone knew it was his
money.
Um
And to be fair, some investors received
money from back from Jason, investment
returns.
But those investment returns were not
being derived from any income producing
activity, Matt Cox. They were being
derived from the principal investments
of themselves and other investors in
what we call a Ponzi scheme.
>> A Ponzi scheme. By definition, that's
what a Ponzi scheme is. Did you know
what Ponzi said how Ponzi said he was
raising his money? Charles Ponzi was
working an arbitrage scheme off of
postage stamps. He said
>> International postage stamps.
>> Yeah. He figured out that you can buy an
international postage stamp for this
much and but it but an actual US stamp
was a different price and the difference
between those was how he claimed he was
going to be making his investment
returns. Didn't buy any postage stamps.
>> quickly quickly realized there's more
money to be made by
the actual Ponzi scheme itself. The
structure of it goes back to ancient
Greece.
>> Yeah, yeah. And for some reason the name
just sort of stuck with Charles Ponzi
when he was ripping off the people of
Boston, I think it was.
>> the Peter They used to be called the
Peter Paul scam. Is that right?
>> Yeah. Robin Peter to pay Paul.
>> Makes sense. Yeah. That's exactly what
Jason did.
Um
And and so, the net loss because that's
the number which matters to you and
matters to the courts is 1 million
dollars. Right? So, he took in 1.4,
400,000 of that was recycled back to the
investors to create the illusion of
investment returns which also has the
benefit to the bad guy of allowing
people to talk about how they got
investment returns and allowing the the
scheme to spread a little bit virally.
So, when I caught up with Jason as the
case agent, you know, I interviewed all
the victims, looked at the bank
statements,
>> he's just pissing it away in Vegas.
He was like the nicest, most charming
guy in the world.
>> Did he buy you lunch? He did not buy me
lunch. He did not buy me lunch.
>> Let me get that. But he was still I I
could see why people trusted him. And he
was incredibly kind as he was signing
the confession that I put in front of
him and
we and we shook hands warmly and
we ended up going to a grand jury and
indicting him.
Or maybe he played guilty to an
information. I don't remember. It was a
while ago.
>> Right. Played guilty to fraud, million
dollar loss.
Again, pillar in the community, you
know,
veteran,
uh
Filipino Chamber of Commerce, Japanese
Chamber of Commerce, but people trusted
him. There's definitely a violation of
trust here.
29 investors.
How much time do you think a guy like
Jason Pasqua is going to get in prison
or got in prison in fact?
I wish I could look this up.
Um
Yeah, I mean, he's got no criminal
history. None whatsoever. I mean, let's
say
I would say it's like three or four
years. Let's say
I don't know. Um 30 Let's say
41 months. Let's go 41 months. The
correct answer is 48 months.
Come on. I got to be close on that. 48 *
.8 is 38 months. You're in. You're in.
You're in. You got one. You need Are you
going to put a sound effect in? Ding
ding? Are you going to do the
No, that's it? Oh my god. We've had
conversations in previous times I've
come to visit you about the amount of
compassion that you have for drug
addicts and people who get into a life
of crime to feed their drug habit and
how you feel that is a get out of jail
free card.
>> I do. That is a That is a bold-faced
lie. I I give them All you have
>> have to do is ram a bunch of powder up
your nose and then you're willing to
forgive all crimes. Is that right?
>> I think that it should be taken into
consideration.
>> And give him a lower sentence. Yeah, but
that's not a get out of free time. I'm
not saying you don't go to jail. I'm
saying instead of getting 60 months,
maybe you give them a little bit of time
off or give them the drug program or
something, but you you have to you know,
but I feel like they've got a compulsion
and you know. Right. Right. Well, we we
may have to agree to disagree once
again.
>> I'm not letting them out of jail. He
still committed a crime.
>> You are letting him out of jail earlier
than he would have otherwise. Let's be
clear about that. That That like, you
know, someone who chooses to not use a
lot of drugs ends up serving more time
in the in in the United States than Matt
Cox, right?
>> I I do. Maybe I have
I have a little bit of compassion for
>> Cuz my question to you is, will you
extend the same courtesy, the same
discount for the culpability of their
actions to someone who's addicted to
gambling?
Yeah, I I I I kind of think so. I kind
of feel like this Yes.
Because I because they they very much if
you've been around gamblers and drug
addicts, they very much do the same type
of thing when they're in the middle of
their addiction.
They they tend to say things and lie and
twist things and you know, they they do
the same similar things. So, I would
probably I probably would Maybe not as
much as a drug addict, but probably
pretty close.
>> Mhm.
Okay. You know. Good. Well, I just
wanted to get your opinion on that.
There was a fellow in um
Just just Well, I was curious to hear
your thoughts on
>> letting them out of jail. I'm just going
to take
>> him out of jail
>> Take it into consideration.
>> than they would otherwise had they not
had a gambling addiction or a drug
addiction. And that's fine. It's not an
unreasonable position to take. The law
it certainly agrees with you. And I'm
not even saying you're wrong. I'm just
saying it's interesting to me. That
There's a government agency in the state
of Washington based in Tacoma called the
Washington State Office of
Administrative Hearings. I'm not going
to bore you with the details of what
they do. It doesn't really matter, but
it's a state government agency, okay?
The office employed a fellow by the name
of Matthew Ping. Ping
is a program analyst. But he had a very
important side duty. The agency had a
credit card that they could use for
office expenses. And Matthew was the
keeper of the credit card. To such an
And he took that very seriously. He kept
it under lock and key in his office, so
no one could actually get to the credit
card because once you get that credit
card, boy, Katie bar the door. You could
do anything you want with it.
Did he have a gambling problem?
>> Matt had a secret.
Matt had a secret no one knew. He was
addicted to gambling. Mhm. Mhm. And
whenever he had a chance, he would catch
a cheap flight to Las Vegas
and go on a gambling bender.
And he lost all the money he brought on
nearly every trip. He was a terrible
gambler. Every subsequent trip to Vegas
found him making more and more
outrageous bets in hopes of recouping
the bets he made last time where he lost
money.
Total gambling addict behavior.
The problem is being a gambling addict
is a bit of an expensive hobby.
And he gets to the office and he
realizes, man, I need to go gambling
again to make up all the losses I had
last time, but I don't have any money.
These guys. But you know what he does
have? The credit card. That goddamn
credit card sitting in the sitting in a
locked drawer of his desk.
And he had a brainstorm then.
He establishes some credit card merchant
accounts as if he were a store in names
similar to the names of actual vendors
that the government agency he worked for
used. And he starts charging the state
credit card with the money going to him.
Right.
>> Right. And putting them in the
accounting records cuz it looks like it
like he's paying vendors of the state
agency for let's say office office
supplies or whatever.
He's able to do this for two full years
before someone figured it out banging
out $900,000
Wow. in fake charges.
There's a reason that easy side hustle
feels like a felony. Just like there's a
reason Morgan & Morgan is America's
largest injury law firm. They've got
over a thousand attorneys and they've
been fighting for the people for over 35
years. That's not luck. That's results.
Like this. In Florida, an insurance
company offered someone $350,000.
Morgan & Morgan got them 12 million.
Another client in Pennsylvania was
offered $500,000.
Morgan & Morgan helped them walk away
with 29 million. When you hire them,
it's like showing up to a fight with a
legal army behind you. And their fee?
It's free unless they win. So, if you're
ever injured and it's not your fault,
don't mess around. You can start your
claim without even leaving the couch. Go
to forthepeople.com/matthewcox.
That's forthepeople.com/matthewcox.
So, by the way, that is the way to do
it. I mean, that that Now, he got
greedy. That's how he got caught. He
could have probably done that forever,
but that's the way to do it where you're
the the the merchant accounts, using the
credit card, similar names or or
something like it that they they seem
perfect. It It almost passed an It
passed to me that probably pass an audit
or something.
>> vendor scheme using you know, credit
cards.
>> Yeah. The problem is $900,000.
>> Yeah. And And the other problem is that
he has nothing to show for it cuz he
pissed away it all in Vegas.
Well, Yeah.
>> you know, like it it's different
>> criminal. Yeah, clearly.
>> Right. I mean, I I don't know. To me
it's a little different if you are
living large and you know, where you
bought
>> bought cars, your cars and vacations and
you're doing your
He's just blown it. And And I think when
you're losing in Vegas, it's not as fun.
Um
So, eventually the Washington state
auditors learn of the scheme. They
stumble upon this when they're
conducting a routine audit. They call in
the FBI to investigate. The IRS is also
called in because guess what? He ain't
paying taxes on the 900 grand he stole.
charged with fraud and tax evasion and
he pleads guilty.
Smash cut to his sentencing.
Hang in there. The prosecutor, I'm going
to tell you this, it's a huge clue for
you. The prosecutor says, lock him up
for 33 months.
And Matt makes this impassioned speech
to the judge about his crippling
gambling addiction and his inability to
find social services to stop him from
harming himself.
Okay? Yep. Now, the question is we have
Judge Federal Judge Tiffany Cartwright,
40-year-old, not not unattractive for a
federal judge.
It's her decision. Mhm. What do you What
do you think she's going to do? I I want
to say 36 months because he can go to
RDAP and get a year off and he'll get
help in prison. Does the RDAP program
count gambling addiction as a It counts
addiction. I I I would think it would
count. I don't You know what? I don't
necessarily know that it does count
gambling addiction, but I'm going to I'm
going to say they said 33 months. They
almost always go with what with the
judge said with the what the prosecutor
>> it out there at you. We got a We got a a
young
kind of pretty federal judge, Tiffany
Cartwright,
um 40 years old. She's hearing this.
Government's asking for 33.
Defendant is saying, I got a problem.
Right.
>> couldn't get help for my problem. Right.
Should pull your heartstrings, Matt Cox,
cuz you're a soft touch.
I Some say 30 30 What is it? 33 33
>> 33 is what's being asked for. Yes, fine.
I'm going with 33. 33 is your guess.
>> Yes. You're going to stay solid that she
took the government's side of this
thing, not the defendant's side of this
thing. Yes. Okay.
Well, Judge Tiffany,
good-looking lady,
sentenced him
18 months in prison. Oh, man.
You ever been to Toledo, Ohio?
No. No?
Why? You a roller coaster guy?
I do I do like roller coasters, yes.
>> The best roller coaster park in America
is called Cedar Point. Oh, yeah. Yeah,
yeah.
>> of near Toledo. Mhm. And my uncle Got
the wooden one wooden
roller coasters, right? Yeah, they got
everything. Okay.
In the federal government, this has
nothing to do with the story, but it's a
Toledo story.
There in government buildings and
contractors for the snack bars in the
lobby of the government buildings where
you can pick up like a Coke and a
Snickers bar, um those contracts are
awarded to blind people.
If you go to pretty much any government
building in America, the guy running
that store in the government building is
legally blind.
>> My first thought is doesn't it make it
hard for them to refill the vending
machines? Well,
I mean, it makes everything more
difficult, right? And And they have a
whole
Come on. That was
You're not even going to laugh? Come on.
My Uncle Jim had the blind store at the
federal building in Toledo for his
entire life.
Yeah. Oh, oh my god.
>> And I've spent a lot of time in federal
buildings, right? And so, I'm constantly
going down to the lobby to grab a diet
Coke or a or some popcorn or whatever
and I'm constantly like handing my money
to the blind guy saying, this is a $5
bill, sir. And then he like folds one He
folds the corners in different ways to
organize the um
And how does he know it's a $5 bill?
>> He just trust He just trusts him because
he's in a federal building.
>> technology probably has some sort of
sensor he can place it under that says
$5, but back in like 1996, that wasn't
the case. And it certainly wasn't the
case when Uncle Jim was running the
blind store in Toledo.
So, just fun fact for you. Anyway, we're
going to Toledo, Ohio and we're going to
talk about a charity.
Nothing to do with nothing. Go ahead. I
need segues.
Sabrina Serratos, 55-year-old, she had a
charity called Adelante whose stated
purpose was to support Hispanic
education and empower Latino children
and familias with life skills.
Okay?
It's a good charity, good cause.
>> Yeah, she she I feel like she's not
doing what she's supposed to be doing,
but yeah. Yeah. I mean, the charity was
funded through a lot of government
grants and corporate grants also. You
know, about about $700,000 a year in
grants from the government, all of which
was under the control of this boss,
Sabina, we'll call her. Mhm.
Um she was the charity's director. I
mean, she kind of ran the show. She had
access to Adelante's bank account,
including a debit card that she
controlled with little or no oversight
from anyone else.
No one's watching the store. We have We
have to trust Sabina. Right. Okay.
Matt Cox, are you sitting down? Mhm.
Sabina also has a gambling problem.
For a 2-year period, she would sneak off
to the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, and
she would make ATM withdrawals from the
charity's
bank account using the charity's debit
card. Mhm.
What's wrong? And she would piss away
that money on slot machines.
Go right from the charity, right to the
slots.
She also
She kind of ran out of money at the
charity, and she ran out and obtained a
$50,000 loan for the charity, then she
lost all that money at the casino, too.
What is What's wrong with these people?
>> It's a gambling addiction, dude. It's
that monkey on their back.
Which you have no empathy for at all. Um
I think you make your choices.
Alantes board of directors was tasked
with oversight. They were completely
asleep at the wheel. No one was
overseeing this.
It ended up being a third-party audit
that revealed that she had siphoned
$535,000
from the charity's coffers,
much of which came from the tax dollars.
Mhm. Okay.
Uh the FBI investigated Sabina. She
provided a full confession. I mean,
what's she going to do, right?
Uh she pleads guilty to fraud charges,
and
uh the charity ends up getting shut
>> down, closes their doors altogether. It
does not exist anymore.
>> Wow, she wiped out the charity.
>> Wiped them out. They The board of
directors, you know, just there's no way
this can be a charity anymore. There's
no one involved in this who did the
right thing.
$535,000 is the significant number for
you.
Um
how much time are you going to give
Sabina?
Th- 30 33 months.
33 months?
>> 33 months. Talk to me about your thought
process there. I mean, there's there's
only there's one victim,
and uh well, it is a charitable It
wouldn't even matter, charitable or
government, there's still going to be an
enhancement.
She has a drug I mean, she has a not
drug problem. So, she's got an addiction
problem.
Probably has no criminal history.
Probably did a whole 'nother impassioned
speech. I don't know if her judge was,
you know, hot on her or not. Um
but the other guy got 18 mo- I'm
sticking with 33 months. 33 months?
Yeah. So, you seem really firm on this
one. There's no getting you off 33.
>> 31.
I'm not trying to get you off it. I just
want to make sure that
>> 31 months.
>> that you're comfortable in your own skin
this time, cuz last time was a disaster
for you.
31 months. 31 months?
>> Yes.
>> Final answer? Yes. Okay. The correct
answer, 24 months. I know you're
not a fan of sports.
Yeah. But I'm wondering
You a fan of betting on sports? No. No?
Like
>> I don't know anything. You go to a Super
Bowl party and people are doing squares.
You Would you do that? You know what
squares are? No, I've only I I think
I've only bet one time when I when I was
in prison. Really bet like that on
something. Like I told you I I played 21
like I think three games of like What
not 21? What do they call it? Black
Jack.
>> Um it was for like five or 10 dollars.
Um
and I think I bet one time I bet on uh
the Casey Anthony trial. That's what you
bet on in prison? Yeah.
They were They were
>> was the spread? Yeah. It was like And I
only bet it because it was I think I
said um
I think I said she was innocent because
it was like, you know, a one to 10
return or one or eight. You could give
the guy a soup, and you get eight back
if she was
A soup? Yeah, a uh
um Top Ramen, you know, the soup. So,
there's like a bookmaker who's accepting
soup as money?
>> Well, there's no money. Well, I
understand that. You can't You can't
transfer money in a commissary account
from one person to another? No. I don't
know. No. People would extort each
other. Okay, yeah. You know, these
aren't nice people. Right.
Cigarettes aren't a thing anymore,
right?
>> No, no. So, they do either mackerel or
they do soup. Uh well, they typically
it's mackerel or or books of stamps or
just stamps in general. Okay, cuz
there's a cash value to those. Yeah.
Yeah, interesting. And so, did you win
your soup bet or not? I I won cuz she
was found not guilty.
>> So, you were like flush with ramen for
>> Over. Yeah, everybody else was like
murder, you know, like this they were
all like, you know, two to the Yeah,
there was all He had a little slip, and
I bet on it, and I signed it, and he
came back, and he gave me my eight soup.
And I I remember saying, "How you know,
how'd you do?" He's like, "Oh, I raked
up, bro."
Look at you. Look at you. You're a
winner. Well, people do bet on sports,
and it's a It's a very popular pastime,
more so than ever. Back in the old days,
you had to call a bookie to bet on
sports. Now, they have online apps. You
could do it. You can do it right here,
sitting home. Let's talk about Eli
Goshert.
He was a smart guy. He had a degree in
information system from the University
of Pittsburgh, and then a master's
degree from Drexel University.
And his high-wattage brain landed a
good-paying job with Comcast in network
design. This was a smart fellow. Mhm.
>> Okay. So, it was because he was such a
smart guy, respected among his peers,
that it made sense when Eli announced to
people that he knew that he had
developed a sophisticated computer
algorithm that would predict the winner
of sporting events with complete
accuracy.
Okay.
>> And within And And within the point
spread and everything. Like he could
nail it because he had written the
algorithm, cuz he's a smart guy. I don't
feel like that's what the way it works,
but
I mean,
an algorithm that predicts the future is
just too juicy to keep to himself. So,
Eli had an idea.
What if he was to create, let's call it
like a a mutual fund
um of people who would contribute money
and share in the proceeds of his AI
sports betting um algorithm. He'll call
it the the Magellan sports fund. That's
exactly what he did. He began taking
investments from people. I feel like the
uh US attorney characterized it as a
Ponzi scheme. Well, we're You're getting
ahead of yourself.
So, you would invest your savings with
Eli, and he would place bets based on
the algorithm, and the winnings would go
into this mutual fund.
His investors were promised between 100%
and 200%
with no limit to the upside. Boy, these
guys are
They really over-promised, right?
>> or go home, Matt. Like it's it's that
That's definitely going to be going to
collapse the whole thing.
>> Mhm.
I think a lot of people thought what you
thought, and he only got 12 investors.
But they total they gave him $650,000.
Right? Just 12 people. Many of whom were
his friends, right? They They know him.
He's a smart guy. Give it a shot.
And then he began sending them account
statements um showing returns between
100% and 200%. Um so, they keep rolling
their money over. Well, I mean,
let it ride. Right. Why on earth would
you take your money out? If you're
doubling your money every every, you
know, week when the NFL plays, why not?
Um
yeah, I'm You probably see what's
coming, right?
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've watched my
videos at Simon Investigations on
Instagram. You know You know what You
know what's coming.
Um
there was no sophisticated sports
betting uh app that could predict the
future. That was a lie. He was lying to
people.
He stole his investors' money, and he
spent it on some amazing Disney
vacations. He was a Disney adult.
Uh he also paid private school tuition
for his kids, and uh mortgage payments
on his house. Um it's not clear to me
from the court records that he ever
placed a single bet.
Not a single bet.
Um
the account statements that he sent to
his investors were all nonsense.
Uh when people asked for their payouts,
he said that the sports books with whom
he placed the bets were refusing to
honor the wages and pay out. It's not my
fault. It's the sports books. These damn
apps, they don't work sometimes. They're
not honoring my bets because they
they've never seen someone as smart as
me, Eli would say.
I'm working it out. I just need you to
be patient, and I'll get you paid out
because we're making a fortune, but
these apps are screwing me over. It's
not me, it's the apps.
>> You're going to get all your money as
soon as I get back from Disney.
Exactly. Exactly.
Um he told other investors that he was
that I'd like I I'd like to meet you and
pay you out in cash, but I don't want to
carry that much cash around. I feel
weird about that.
So, Eli's investors eventually got tired
of waiting, as they as they often do,
and they called the FBI,
who makes quick work of the
investigation, and they arrest him on
fraud charges. The FBI does.
Eli pleads guilty.
Uh loss is 650,000 bucks.
12 victims.
How much you want to bet you get this
one right?
Is it 33 months?
You seem kind of hung up on that number.
>> I I 600
$650,000, 12 victims.
33 months.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I I I was waiting for you
to
deliberate.
>> months. 33 months is your guess.
>> Yes. And it's You seem really firm on
that. You're stuck to that, huh?
I'm just asking.
25 months. We're going down, not up?
33 months.
I'm not sure which is the angel and
which is the devil on your shoulder, but
I'm just
>> 33 months.
>> I asked the question. 33 months is your
guess.
>> Yes.
All right, man. I'm not going to belabor
this, cuz you're yawning.
I
I got up. I've been up I've
I've had a bad night.
>> Hey, it's your show.
Uh the judge just sentenced him to four
years in prison. 48 I was so way off.
Oh, man.
Mhm. Why was I going to get that right?
48 times You said You said I I bet you
get this one right.
>> I I thought you would. I was mostly
placing a betting joke, but
Without getting into a long diatribe or
debate,
you into cryptocurrency?
Uh no. Yeah, me neither.
I think it's garbage. I think it's I I
it's actually a Ponzi scheme mixed with
a pump and dump scheme.
And they can come
>> going on forever. It has been. It has
been as long as there's new people
pumping money into it, it's going to
keep the price up really high. And now
that there uh
there's investment you know, like
mutual funds basically of
cryptocurrency. I don't see it going
down necessarily. I just don't think it
has a value. Yeah, I agree.
Let's talk about 28-year-old Brooklyn
resident Rashawn Russell.
He was all into crypto. Well, let's
we'll talk about that. He immigrated
from Jamaica at age 15
and was universally regarded as a bright
young man with a bright future.
In fact, so much that he he worked at
Deutsche Bank, really big international
bank. Yeah.
>> in New York and
he left it to open up a cryptocurrency
trading firm that he formed called R3
Crypto Fund.
Okay, because he saw he thought, unlike
you and I, he thought that crypto was
really the future and there's money to
be made in crypto mutual funds, which
there is for some people. Do we know
what R3 stands They are I'm assuming
that Rashawn Russell are two of the Rs.
I don't really know what the third one
is. Maybe his middle name was something
like, you know. Let's let's play with
it. Let's go with that.
>> Yeah. Yeah, and the R in the third
middle. So, he promised investors
returns of 25% every 3 months. What's
wrong? I think that's what I think
that's what
what Charles Ponzi was promising. Every
90 days he had a flip.
>> yeah. 60 and then I think he also had a
90-day promissory note and a 60-day.
If you were to trust Rashawn with your
money, he could make that crypto magic
happen and get you your money back.
That's what he told people at least,
right?
So, he takes in 1.5 million dollars from
enthusiastic crypto investors seeking to
get rich quick
and he blew it all on online gambling.
As soon as it came in, he didn't even
bother putting it in crypto.
But he was but he realizes he got a
problem, right? Investors aren't going
to be happy with that. No, they're going
to someone going to have issues.
>> Right. So, in order to cover his tracks
until he could figure out how to make
this right, he produces false account
statements to show them that they're
making their money. And and that keeps
keeps the investors quiet for a while
until they want to make a withdrawal.
He's got a problem on his hands cuz he
doesn't have any money.
He he can't even
He did have some investor money coming
in cuz it didn't all come in the same
time. So, he did Ponzi some of the money
back, but not much at all. Not much at
all.
Um
Rashawn's crypto scam just wasn't enough
to feed the gambling addiction.
And so, what he did was he started
canvassing health clubs in New York City
and breaking into the lockers of the
health clubs and he stole 140 debit
cards and credit cards from people's
lockers at health clubs. Jeez.
>> And he used that to fund more losing
bets and shopping sprees. How much money
did he raise?
Uh well, I mean the the original
investment fraud was 1.5 million.
The I don't have a good quantification
on the theft from the lockers. Yeah,
well I mean I'm I'm trying to think like
you're you're how trying to pay back
that like how how is your breaking in
and Well, again, his You're not thinking
like a gambling addict. Gambling addict
thinks that okay, all I need is a
thousand dollars for me to bet on this
sports this game and then he can parlay
that until I have all the millions to
pay people back, right?
>> Right. He's going to let the gambling be
the the the helium that lifts up this
balloon of his life.
But it didn't work out that way. No.
Right. So, There's only one way this
thing's going to end and this one was
with the US Postal Inspection Service
investigating Rashawn.
Um they bust him for wire fraud and what
they call access device fraud. The use
of, you know, credit cards.
>> And uh
he pleads guilty
and at his sentencing hearing, Matt Cox,
he makes an impassioned speech, but a
little different than other the
impassioned speeches.
He said that listen, the Holy Spirit
made me new and has revitalized my body
with a purpose. Is what he told the
judge.
And um and so the judge needs to make a
decision on
is this really the defendant or is this
the defendant with the revitalized body
from the Holy Spirit? Who am I
sentencing? Which which Rashawn? Am I
sentencing old Rashawn, the gambling
addict, or the new revitalized Rashawn
uh with the power of the Holy Spirit
inside him. Mhm. Okay. So, we're dealing
with a loss of 1.5 million dollars,
which is how much restitution he owed.
So, I don't think he got much Ponzi back
to them. Uh pennies here, pennies there.
I don't know the number of victims, but
let's say it's a lot. Let's say it's
50, 100, some you know, 200, you know,
in in decent numbers.
How much time are you going to give
Rashawn's revitalized body
in prison?
This is horrible.
This is 36 months.
He's revitalized. You're you're maybe
you missed that part. I don't care if
he's revitalized. And I don't feel like
I feel like he's that he can go to he'll
do a lot of good in prison with that
revitalization.
But it's like you're sentencing a
different guy. No, it's not. I don't
think so. You don't think legally that
that helps?
I don't know if it stand up on appeal.
No, I don't think the judge cares about
that.
>> All right, so your guess is 36 months
you said?
>> Yes. The correct answer,
your favorite number, 41 months.
So, you're in the You did You nailed it.
>> I know you don't have anything against
religious people, right? No. You were
able to laugh at that last guy for his
attempt to stay out of prison with his
body being revitalized. Right.
Cuz there's some people who I think are
just overly religious, kind of in your
face with it. Yeah, those are the ones
that worry me.
>> bit of a turn-off, right?
>> Yeah, those are the guys The guys that
really push it are the ones that I I'm
always like wary of.
>> Yeah, yeah, sort of like handle with
care.
>> Yeah, you're leaning into this too much.
>> Yeah, that that's that's what this guy
did. Henry Abdo was his name. He was a
Lebanese Christian from Lebanon. And I
normally wouldn't even bring up his
religion. Uh lived in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida boy like you and I.
His religion would be irrelevant except
for he was one of those guys who was
always ramming his religion down your
throat.
When you met him, instead of saying
hello or how are you, he would shake
your hand and go
May Jehovah be with you. May Jehovah be
with you.
>> Oh my god.
>> Yeah, that was his jam. It was not
important to know It was important for
him to
It was important for him that you knew
how godly he was.
>> Yes. That was Henry Abdo's jam.
Um and that was some really helped him
when he was offering
risk-free, high-yield investments in
Forex, foreign currency transactions
through his company Titanium Plat
Titanium Capital.
His sales pitch is that with the
endorsement of Jehovah,
he had developed a proprietary software
to make money on foreign currency
transactions.
And he told prospective investors that
he was registered with the Securities
and Exchange Commission and that he had
a billion dollars under management.
Wow. Somebody with that kind of
liquidity with Jehovah in his heart, you
got to trust him. Yeah, yeah. He's he's
he's making good calls.
>> I mean, he's registered with the SEC, he
said. He said. He said.
Yeah, you I think you saw it coming,
Matt. You've been watching these true
crime shows a lot, haven't you?
Complete hogwash, all of it.
But it sounded good coming from him. I
mean, a devout Christian would never
steal from you, right?
Um Henry's investors were told that he
his fund had never had a monthly loss.
It's only up from here.
And he guaranteed them 100% annual
returns. I'm going to double your money
every year.
Jehovah and I will. Yeah, if it sounds
too good to be true. Yeah.
That was good enough for 200 different
investors. I I just don't Who's in that
like I feel like these people really
have to be dumb.
>> Many of whom liquidated their retirement
savings to give him money.
Total money he took in,
6 million dollars.
Okay.
You may or may not be surprised to
learn, Matt Cox, There was no There was
no fund.
>> He never invested a penny of this money.
There was no foreign currency fund at
all. Did he have a gambling problem? You
see it coming, don't you?
Uh he was able to create the illusion of
investment returns by paying his
investors using money from other
investors, which we now know is called a
Ponzi scheme because you've educated the
audience.
Uh but the vast majority of the money
was spent on himself. Henry spent the
money on himself. He really liked buying
expensive jewelry. One of those guys.
Like the guys who are all dudes who just
have like expensive necklaces and
bracelets and stuff like that.
And he really really liked going to
casinos and being treated like a high
roller.
Right? He's betting a lot. But the the
treatment of being a high roller is kind
of what fed his ego.
Um and it's even worse when you're
gambling with other people's money, but
that's what he was doing.
Okay.
He also false He also claimed, and this
was a big thing for a lot of his
investors, that Titanium Capital's
profits are all going to be donated to
the blind and handicapped.
This guy didn't miss a beat. He checked
every single box.
And uh something for everyone, right?
Something for everyone. Um many of his
victims financially devastated. Uh
several of the victims at his
sentencing, we'll get there obviously,
reported losing their retirement
accounts and personal savings that they
relied on for like food and medication.
Um
eventually, you know, there wasn't
enough um
money coming in to pay out the old
investors.
Uh we got 6 million dollars in losses,
give or take a few bucks for the
Ponziing, 200 investors.
Um
important to know, he is a He was legal
here in the US, but he's not a US
citizen. He's a Lebanese citizen. So,
when he finishes his prison sentence,
back to Lebanon. Mhm. Right? So, you can
take restitution off the table
cuz you can't get blood from a turnip.
Mhm.
How much time you going to give this
guy, Henry Abdo?
144 months. 144 months is 12 years in
prison if my math is right.
Talk to me about that.
I mean, I think that there's a lot of
victims. I think they were vulnerable
victims. I think that it's sophisticated
means. I think that he's I just across
the board it's just
you know,
he's just doing all all it's
Yeah, he's using uh um
the court doesn't like it when you use
religion. They frown on that.
>> Yeah, or you
the religion or or
a charitable institution or the
government in furtherance of your crime.
They're they're not a fan of that. I
mean, there's just across the board it's
just
you know, he's lying about being
licensed. He's taking advantage of his
I don't know if he's I'm not sure if he
would get an enhancement for position of
trust, but it's possible. Yeah. And uh
yeah, I think so. I think I think 144 is
fair. I think a bunch of people stood up
and cried and screamed and he took their
life savings and even though those some
of those those people should It's
Listen, there's just no 100% investment.
Yeah.
>> You can't really guarantee any
guarantee. If you go to If anybody said,
"Oh, I guarantee you 14% return."
No. Yeah. I mean, I would argue that a
Treasury bill or a Treasury bond is
about the the closest thing to a safe
investment that has no risk, but the
rewards are going to be low, right? The
return you're going to get on that is
like 2 3%. That's the government though.
Yeah, but it's still an investment
vehicle. Well, I understand that, but
I'm saying if it's a private company
where some guy's telling you, "I can
guarantee you 22% return." You could
tell you right now, you're already
breaking the law. When I was an FBI
agent, I used to tell people in my
speeches that if I can convince the
public that there's no such thing as low
risk and high reward, I would have been
like the Maytag repairman sitting
waiting around waiting for the phone to
ring, but that's just ain't necessarily
so.
High risk comes with high reward. Your
guess is 12 years. Henry Abdo got 14
years. So, you nailed it. Ooh. Boom,
coming back. Yeah. Tom didn't care at
all. He didn't care if I'm even if I win
or you
I'm rooting for you. I'm just the guy
who asked the questions. You're the
contestant on your own show.
See, we kind of switched it. Normally,
you would have me on a game show, but
the
the game show here is the guest comes on
and asks you questions. If if someday we
we make it big, we'll get a
uh we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll buy out
the the the the baby photographer next
door. We'll knock out the walls. We'll
do another podcast studio where it's set
up like a game show.
We'll have
We'll get three contestants and then you
can read the things and we'll be like
You and two of your criminal buddies?
Hit the button. Yeah.
If I can keep them out of jail.
Right, exactly. Well, you got a pretty
good run. Matter of fact, do you know
what?
Oh my gosh, let me show you this. Did
you ever see this guy? I just did it. He
got over 200,000 views. Was it a 3-hour
video? No, 2-hour video. How recently?
That's pretty recent. Recent, recent.
I'm sure I see it when I scan past to
see how I'm doing in comparison to your
other guys.
Well, you don't have to worry about him
anymore. You back in jail?
And I don't mean a might, I mean pulled
over. He had
he had ice
a trafficking amount of ice.
He Keep in mind, he's already gone to
prison as a
to federal prison. That's where I met
him in as an armed career criminal.
He just got for trafficking Mhm. ice.
Just got hit with
a level of trafficking ice and a weapon.
Mhm.
Armed career criminal. Yeah. And
Viagra.
And well, and a hot blonde.
That he had with him. I don't think He
was in charge of the Viagra, right? She
wasn't I don't think so, but I think the
way I feel is if you mix the Viagra and
the ice and the blonde Oh. She she was
she was this close to having a really
good night. Um but it didn't work out
that way.
>> I got it stuck in my throat and woke up
with a stiff neck.
Anyway, yeah, I can't believe it. Like
he was he did this. Yeah, but uh yeah,
so he won't be on the show. Well. He
won't be on the show. But maybe maybe
Zach will get out.
We get Zach and one other guy do the
game show. All right. Get Zach and
Boziak comes back from Cambodia. Yeah,
my buddy Zach Boziak Boziak is Yeah, I
know him on uh
on social media. Oh, he's Yeah, he's in
Cambodia now. He moved from Thailand to
Cambodia? Yeah, he's going to go back to
Thailand.
>> Yeah, I thought he was taking digging
tunnels in Thailand with all the women.
They don't They don't
They only let you stay for so long
before they're like, "Yeah, listen."
>> they should be able to cross the border
and come back. No, they do, but then he
did that every 60 days or something.
Then when he went to the last time, they
were like,
"You You now have to leave for 6
months." He said the laws are It's
constantly changing.
>> think they would want his money. That's
what I said. That's That's what I would
think. It would be really good to see
this show with
with you and Zach competing. Like Tom's
the host and you and Zach are competing.
>> you could buy a a buzzer off of Amazon
from China that goes beep or whatever
Whoever buzzes in first. Although,
buzzing in first doesn't really make
sense. It's more be more like a final
jeopardy. You both write it down and
hold up your cards. Yeah, that's that's
a better one.
>> You schedule it, I'll be here. I'll host
it.
Well, there's only
>> to get Zach We got to get Zach out of
out of jail first.
Told you all these guys. I watch your
show, man, every now and then. Not the
whole episode, but most of it. You got a
lot of criminals in your Rolodex.
Yeah, we'll find somebody.
>> Yeah, bring in that blonde lady. She was
great. Yeah, she's Where is she? Oh,
where is she? Tennessee? She's Georgia,
I think.
>> It's a short drive. It's a short drive.
Yeah, you guys can compete against each
other. Us three together would be magic.
Absolute magic. I like her.
All right. Um
What do you think about the life
coaching industry? Ever meet a life
coach or deal with a life coach?
>> Yes, we've we've interviewed quite a few
life coaches.
>> to me about life coaches. What are your
thoughts on that industry?
>> silly. I I find it silly, but they you
know, these guys like What was the
What's the guy
I don't want to say anybody's name. You
know, you they go through like like
they'll they'll go through some whatever
I don't know they go through some stuff.
Mhm. They go in the military, they get
out, they have some they don't quite
It's like they can never The guys that
I've interviewed, they never seem to be
able to get their life together. And
then when they finally like stopped
doing drugs and get their life together,
They're going to tell you how to do it.
>> They're going to tell you how to run
your life. It's like you're not
running a successful business. You just
happened to stop doing drugs and now you
can pay your bills and now you're going
to Yeah, you know. I've known a lot of
life coaches.
>> Yeah. And there's none of them I would
trust to organize you know, my sock
drawer, much less my life. Right. Wes
Watson's a You know Wes Watson is? Mhm,
I know the name. How do I know the name?
He He's a life coach. Like come on,
anybody can He's tatted up. He's done
like 10 years in in prison. Yeah. If
you're a life coach, anybody can be one.
I met one life coach that explained to
me She's also a kind of clinical
psychotherapist and in her state there
is a maximum to the amount you can
charge to be a clinical psychotherapist.
Like there it's a regulated industry
there. You have the license and all
that. And so, I don't know what it is.
Say $400 or whatever. That's the cap.
But if she's being a life coach to
someone, there's no cap and she can
charge them more. Ridiculous. So, if
you're a licensed professional, you have
a cap. Yeah. But if you're an unlicensed
cowboy Yeah, cowboy, there's no cap.
>> Yeah.
Well, 65-year-old Rodney Dean Buckle
was a life coach in Las Vegas.
And he had a coaching business under the
name of Rod United.
Hey man, I'm Rod. You want to know how
to
I'm going to I'm going to break it down
for you and how you got to be living
your life. Rod United.
He could straighten out your life and he
also held himself out as a financial
advisor. So, he can not only straighten
out your life, but he can straighten out
your finances, Matt Cox.
He'd invest your money for you and make
you rich.
>> Oh, all I have to do Can I just write
him a check?
>> Well, you're getting there.
And
recurring theme today, he promised his
clients 100% returns on their money.
He's going to double your money.
Annually?
Um Or monthly?
I I don't think
>> Let's go annually. I think you just get
your money back after he doubles it.
Okay.
Uh many of his clients were elderly
and and they gave him amounts ranging
from $100 to $700,000 to invest on his
on their behalf.
He's got a wide range.
Um again, he has no license or training
in investments or finance.
And um
and he never
He never really told them what he would
be investing their money in, but he's
going to invest their money. What he did
with the money is he invested $2.4
million
from his clients in sports book betting
in Las Vegas where he lived anyway.
Jeez. Yeah.
To his credit, he only lost $283,000
of that money, which is better than most
Las Vegas gamblers fare.
>> Yeah. Right? So, he is giving people
returns back with the winnings and but
the net loss If you did all the books
between his winnings and his losings,
he's he's $283,000 short. I'm just a
little short. I I I'm I'm missing
$283,000.
I mean, if I was an investors, I'd be
happy. At least they they could have
lost everything. Yeah.
Mhm.
All right, so this one's a little
different because the case was
investigated by the Las Vegas police
and prosecuted locally. We don't do a
lot of local crimes here, but I thought
it might be an interesting little
curveball for us in our conversation
today.
And the local seem to have done a good
job with it. You don't always get that
with local police in white-collar crime,
but the Vegas police know their way
around casino records. That's for
goddamn sure.
Um so, he has to go to prison and and
pay his victims restitution of $283,000.
That's the shortfall.
Um and so, how much time did a Las Vegas
judge give this guy for a $283,000
loss?
Throwing a little curveball here with
the local judge and local crime in a
very crime-ridden city of Las Vegas.
He is a life coach.
Let's go with 2 years.
24 months? 24 months, that's your guess?
>> Yeah.
We'll move this along.
The sentence, 1 year in prison.
>> 1 year? 1 year?
I thought about 1 year, but Yeah. Yeah.
Just cuz you're cuz okay. Yeah. No. At
some point
look looking at a picture of Rodney Dean
Buckle
is a treat. What?
Can we see him?
>> look him up. I want to know the comfort
level from 0 to 100 that you feel when
you look at Rodney Dean Buckle about his
ability to solve your problems and
invest your money. Let me see. Yeah.
That's him. That's he screams financial
responsibility.
>> Yeah.
Yeah, he does.
He does. I'm ready to write him a check
right now. Which institution is he in?
No, he did 1 year. He's already out.
>> I'm sure he's out. He's out He's He's
probably still life coaching.
Ridiculous. They can't take that away
from you.
And he's a life coach.
>> He's a life coach. I mean he I mean he's
Imagine the people he was able to help
in prison.
Oh god.
Oh my god.
You imagine. What's funny
is that uh
he received a discount for being a
pretty good sports gambler.
Oh yeah. If he lost it all, he would
have gotten more time. Yeah. What a
world we live in.
You're a painter.
I I am.
>> Which means you are a man of great
imagination. I am. You are. So, I want
you to imagine this. Wouldn't it be
amazing if we lived in a world where we
could power our homes and vehicles with
biodegradable
waste?
So, you could charge your phones, maybe
your Teslas, with rotting banana peels,
rotting apples. Mhm. What a world that
would be. It'd be great. It'd be so
good. So good.
And that was the promise of a company
called Alternative Energy Holdings run
out of Euclid, Ohio
by 65-year-old Jonathan Freeze. Mr.
Freeze.
>> Mr. Freeze.
>> Mr. Freeze.
He was going to build energy plants that
ran off of biodegradable waste and
and uh and he started selling short-term
notes with high interest rates to fund
this infrastructure project. Okay, what
kind of what do you know what the rate
of return?
>> I happen to know the rate of return on
all that. He also to give everyone a
sense of comfort, he personally
guaranteed the investments. There you
go. No way you can lose.
>> out of my own pocket if you lose your
money.
I'm Mr. Freeze. Um
I actually don't have the interest
rates, but they were high. Right. Um
>> Unreasonably high? I I I think they were
probably high certainly higher than you
would get else in other investments, but
I don't think it was like triple your
money in 90 days or I'd have that
information. He brought in uh $2 million
from 22 individual investors. Okay.
Who were excited to make some real money
turning organic waste into energy.
They were men of imagination as well.
Mhm. Just like you, Matt Cox.
He said that the money would go toward
building this green energy plant.
Spoiler alert, it didn't.
He used the investor funds to go
gambling Mhm. and to buy designer
clothing and eat at expensive
restaurants.
Um no money was repaid. Nothing was
Ponzi'd back to the victims, and the
money did not go to a green energy
plant. So, everyone's dream of running
their Tesla on a on a apple core went
right down the toilet with their money.
I feel like I feel like you're you're
mocking Tesla owners.
[Music]
No, Tesla's real technology.
Tesla will run.
The but try plugging that Tesla into a
a machine with a bunch of rotting banana
peels and it's basically a compost bin,
and you're going to have issues.
Um the FBI and the postal inspectors
joined forces to investigate this case
jointly.
And Mr. Freeze was charged with fraud.
He pled guilty.
Uh now the likelihood of coming up with
$2 million in restitution seems pretty
remote.
Um
but the likelihood of him serving time
in prison was a very real reality. The
question for you, Matt Cox, is how much
time is Mr. Freeze, the man of great
imagination, going to do in prison?
41 months.
41 months seems really Yeah.
You seem fixated on that number. It's a
lot.
It's a lot. I'm going to go 30
>> million Yeah, uh
I don't know. $2 million that's 22
investors though.
>> 22 investors, yeah. These are are I I
think
40 I think 41 I don't know I don't know
37 months. I'm going to go 37 months.
37 months?
>> going the wrong way? There's no right
way, wrong way. You got to follow your
heart.
We don't know if he had a criminal
record. Um
I don't get that impression.
30
40
41
37 36 months. 36 months.
>> I'm getting whiplash. 36 months. 36
months. Yeah.
>> Nice even 3 years. In and out.
>> Yes. Same amount of time it would take
to go to law school. 3 years. Yes. Is
law school 3 years? Yeah. Oh. I mean
unless you go to night school, which
takes longer than that, but if you go to
full-time law school, it's a 3-year
program.
And you're thinking he did 3 years for
stealing $2 million from 22 investors.
Which is 36 months, right?
Just making sure we're on the same page
cuz you're moving to
>> 31 months. Oh Jesus.
We were almost there. 31 months. 31
months. 31 months.
>> the difference between 36 and 31?
>> So, I'm going 36 months. That's it. 36
months.
>> to be strong?
[Music]
36 months.
>> 36 months. Stop talking.
>> I'm going to break it to you gently.
Okay. You'd be right either way. 30
months is the sentencing. So, 36 and 31
are both within 20% of 30 months. He's
doing He did 30 months in prison. Okay.
You're good, buddy. You're good.
I think that caffeine is really hit your
hypothalamus at this point.
Okay. You should fall asleep a half hour
ago. You drank half of a Ghost
caffeinated drink. It wasn't helping
that Colby was was going
What are you doing? What are you doing?
You know, people have gone to prison for
for game show fraud.
I didn't know this was a team sport.
>> No, it was Well, you know, after the
last time it was
we had to wave the white flag.
>> to see the boss win?
>> He could have helped me out the last
time. Jesus, he let me just
twist in the wind.
>> we're doing good. We're doing good.
No no more. Story 9 of 12.
>> 9 of 12. Matt Cox.
Elvis fan. Yes or no? Yes, we even we
even interviewed a guy that bought one
of Elvis's airplanes. I heard.
>> And turned it into a bus. And that
episode went gangbusters.
>> Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. What I'm
curious about you.
Are you an Elvis fan?
>> have you ever just like listened to his
music?
>> don't know. I'm I'm not looking at I was
really into Elvis in my 20s. I still
like Elvis. Yeah, I like him. Like I I I
I like it. But there's a theory out
there that the world can separate be
separated into two types of people,
Elvis people and Beatles people. Which
would you fall under?
Um
>> them both, but you're you're either an
Elvis man or a or a Beatles man. Which
are you? I mean I would probably pick
pick Elvis. You know, I I just
you know, cuz probably cuz I don't think
there's any of his songs that I don't
think are good or like or where there's
some songs from the Beatles where I'm
just like I could you know, like
Sergeant Pepper and stuff like that.
Like I there's some of them that I'm
just not interested
>> kind of orchestrated
>> Yeah, I'm just not interested.
Um you ever go to Graceland?
No.
Mhm. Where is Graceland? Is it in
Memphis? Memphis?
No. I went to Graceland in my 20s. It's
a great tour. Is it? Yeah. I mean it's
like a like whether you're really into
Elvis or not, you walk away kind of
appreciating the mark he left on
society. Did you see the Elvis movie a
couple years ago?
No.
>> played Colonel It was a good movie. I
mean I I think I probably saw 5 or 10
minutes of it. It was good. It was good.
I mean my son did had no kind of frame
of reference for Elvis, and he walked
away saying, "That was really great. I
learned a lot about Elvis." Yeah. Did
you ever see um the one on Johnny Cash?
Yeah, Walk the Line. Yeah, it was great
movie. I thought it was great. Those
music biopics, I'm a sucker for them.
They all seem to have the same story
though, right? Like like you upstart,
you're doing really good, then he finds
drugs, and then he gets out of it, and
then here he is. And you know, Freddy
Mercury, the Queen one, they all have
the sort of the same timeline. Let's get
back to Elvis. Um he had a doctor in
Nashville who used to provide him with
the prescription pills
that fed his addiction and eventually
probably led to his cardiac arrest when
he died on the toilet. Mhm. You know he
died on the toilet?
>> Yeah. Yeah, I know. Not the way you want
to go. Yeah. Not the way you want to be
remembered. Despite being high as a
kite, he was a worker, man. Okay, dig
this. Toward the end of his career,
Elvis put on
let this number sink in, 837
consecutive performances at the Las
Vegas Hilton. Mhm. At what is now the
Las Vegas Hilton. High as a kite on
pills most of the time.
And when he's in Vegas, he had a doctor
named Dr. Elias Ghanem, who as the story
goes, worked hard to get Elvis off the
pills. He had another doctor in in
Memphis who was kind of feeding his pill
habit, but Elias Ghanem, as the story
goes was working hard to wean Elvis off
the pills during his Las Vegas time, but
it was like kind of too little, too
late. Elvis died at age 42 of cardiac
arrest while sitting on the toilet, and
the pills had clearly had something to
do with that.
Now, Dr. Elias had a kid, Elias Jr.
And he's got a problem on his hands, and
that's what we're going to talk about
today. Okay.
Little Elias solicited $400,000 from
investors to finance a startup
restaurant in New York City.
And he said was going to be the hottest
place to see and be seen.
But instead of putting that money toward
this fancy restaurant in New York, he
spent it on jewelry and renting a luxury
condo here in Florida.
Okay.
That's scheme number one, 400,000 bucks
out the door.
Little Elias had scheme number two.
Okay.
He started a cannabis distribution
company. Are we allowed to say cannabis?
Yes.
>> Yeah. Uh called Viva Capital, like kind
of playing off of Elvis's Viva Las
Vegas. Um Again, this is Elvis's
part-time doctor's son, who it's very
important that he latch onto the his
kind of dotted line to Elvis.
>> Viva Capital took over a million dollars
in investors in investors for his
cannabis distribution company. The
largest investor was a retired police
officer
who invested $280,000
that the cop received after he was shot
multiple times during an armored car
robbery and lost his arm. God,
my god. Okay, pretty sympathetic victim
there.
Um
Now, Elias did not actually start a
cannabis distribution company, and he
may be the first guy we've ever talked
about on the show who's going to prison
for not selling weed.
Okay.
>> sink in, right? Had he actually done it
and the business failed, no problem, but
if you're not even going to start a
cannabis distribution company with the
million dollars you took in, including a
quarter million dollars from a one-armed
cop, then um then he's got a legal
problem on his hands.
Um he ended up spending that investor
money on a luxury waterfront home in
Babylon, New York. So, he's got two
homes now? Oh, yeah, yeah. I am My
impression is that the Babylon home was
a purchase and the Florida place was a
rental. Okay. I think.
So, being two degrees away from the King
of Rock and Roll did nothing to dissuade
the US Attorney's Office to bring
charges against him following an FBI
investigation, to which young Elias
Elvis's part-time doctor's son
Which means nothing. Okay. Pled guilty.
Yeah. Okay.
So, I know it's an algebra problem here
with basically two scams, but how much
time do you think little Elias got? How
much time is he going to be doing the
jailhouse rock, Matt Cox?
I don't know. What do they call that? A
rule 11 where they combine the two
jurisdic You allow them to combine the
two jurisdic jurisdictions.
I don't know his criminal history, but
I'm going to guess that he had a
checkered past.
And it's 2 million?
We have a $400,000 loss from the
restaurant scam, and then we have a
million-dollar loss from the cannabis
scam
with one kind of major, very sympathetic
victim who I'm assuming um spoke in
court cuz he's all over the news in this
thing. Okay. Now, I go 84 months. 84
months.
>> Yeah. Because if he's got Well, cuz I'm
thinking if he if he's like category
three or four, like it the the
guidelines very quickly shoot up. Yeah.
What's 84 divided by 12? How many years?
Um 84
What is this? Is that um 8 years? No,
wait. What?
>> 84 divided by 12 is 7 years.
>> 7 years. 7 years is your guess. That
they're giving this guy 7 years for a
million dollars plus 400,000, 1.4
million. Yeah, I'm not so so concerned
about the money. The the money I would
say he's going to get let's say 3 years.
It's the criminal criminal history
category that probably
>> Yeah, I think I said I suspect he has a
checkered past.
>> Yeah, yeah, would jack it up.
>> All right, so your guess is 7 years.
Yeah. You going to stay on that or you
want to talk it out a little more?
No, help is I gave him up I gave him up
last time, so he's not going to help me
again.
>> I didn't search up this one.
Uh yeah, I think I'm going to stay
there. The correct answer, Matt Cox.
>> Yeah.
What do you got? Nothing but net, 7
years. N- Oh, 7 years. Nice.
>> Nothing but net. Nice.
Nice, see? No help. No help? No help?
There was there help? No, no, there was
no help.
>> just curious.
Your show. No.
Yeah.
Yep, 7 years of jailhouse rock.
Um
It's sort of a weird story. I'm told
this happens all the time. You're not
allowed to own a firearm in the state of
Florida, right? No, I'm not allowed
allowed to own one anywhere in the
United States.
>> Cuz that would be felon in possession of
a firearm. Absolutely. Right? But it
really bothers the bugs the crap out of
me, by the way. You Were you a gun guy
before? No, well, I did have a concealed
weapons permit. And you know, it's funny
when you take that class Mhm. like if
you think you want to carry a wea-
weapon, and then you take the class,
you're like, yeah, I don't even want
this. Like I
>> is huge if something goes sideways,
yeah. Like I I might would probably keep
it in my in my glove box or keep it in
my um my dresser drawer,
>> Mhm. but I'm not going to tra- I'm not
going to go anywhere with it. Doesn't
make sense. Like if you cuz it you very
quickly they'll let you know how
what a horrible they said what the
liability is
if for you to have to explain, "Oh,
why'd you have your concealed weapons
permit on or concealed weapons Oh, well,
because I went to this place that I
thought there might be a problem." Okay,
well, now you have a problem. If you
thought there was a going to be a
problem and you need a gun, what the
hell did you go there for? As opposed to
I was moving it or something and I
happen to have it or I had it on me and
I wasn't in danger or whatever.
Regardless, uh I did have one. I went to
the
firing range
maybe a dozen times over the course of a
couple of years.
Uh when I went on the run, I didn't have
one
uh because I by then I was a fel- As
soon as I got a was became a felon, I
got rid of it.
But since then
and since getting married
my concern is that I have a wife and
what what happens if somebody's banging
on the front door or kicks in the front
door? What happen- You know, it's not
that I want to be that gun-toting, you
know, nut or anything, but I want to
have a choice here. I want to have a
Give me a fighting chance.
>> like a smoke detector. You don't You
never want to have to use it, but it's
better to have it and not need it than
need it and not have it.
>> Absolutely. Florida's sort of
interesting though, isn't it? Because
you used to need a a permit to get a
gun, and then we went constitutional
carry, and now no one needs a permit to
have a gun.
Um and now for a concealed carry, and I
think I don't know if you know, like 2
weeks ago we just went to open carry,
which means that I
if I was to carry a gun, I no longer
need to conceal it under my shirt. Or
and if I want to take an AK-47 and strap
it across my chest and walk down the
street, that's perfectly legal. We are
now an open-carry constitutional-carry
state.
Yeah, I think Listen, I think an armed
society is a polite society. I think
people would be a lot politer
if everybody was armed. There's an
argument to be made. I mean, I you know,
I I don't have strong opinions either
way about gun control, but I do I do
think that occasionally a good guy with
a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun,
especially if there's proper training.
And I think if you're a bad guy,
no matter how many laws there are,
you're going to be able to get a hold of
a gun. One of my Instagram followers hit
me up and asked me what my opinion was
about uh Florida's open carry. And I
said, "You know what? If if we're going
to have everyone with a gun in Florida,
I'd rather know who has a gun than who
doesn't have a gun." And so, if you want
to expose your gun at the uh
at the Waffle House, it's neither here
nor there to me.
Let's talk about But this is something
that happens a lot, and I want to set
the scene. People in Florida are gun
people. It's local culture. People in
Florida often show up at the airport
with a gun that has been thrown into
their carry-on bag, and they walk right
through TSA, and it gets detected.
>> Mhm. My understanding is that TSA is so
accustomed to this that they explain to
you that even though in Florida you can
have a gun, you can't certainly have it
past airport security. Turn around, go
away. Right. I think that's what
happens. I don't quote me on that. I
don't certainly don't test that out uh
uh Inside True Crime viewers. But my
imp- From talking to people in my um
Instagram page who commented, um say it
happens all the time at TSA in Florida.
I had heard one time, and I don't know
if this is true, but if you go and you
declare the gun
that they'll secure it from you and
allow Like if you have to travel from
one place to another
>> Pick it up when you get back or
>> Uh no, that that they'll actually like
put it somewhere in the plane or
something and let you fly there.
>> you can there's checked luggage. I can I
can go to the counter and and and and
say Say, "Listen, I'm flying with my
gun. Here's you know, all the reasons
why this is legal. Uh here it's in a
locked box, and it's going to be And I
think you pay extra for it." And so,
yeah, there's a way to transport a gun
from point A to point B. Yeah, you still
don't have it on you. They remove you
from it, right? Don't they stick it
somewhere, and then when you get back
off, they're like, "Here." Right. So,
26-year-old Abraham Yaqub of Lakeland,
Florida was recently traveling from
Tampa, right here, where we are right
now, to Las Vegas. Okay? And for reasons
that remain unclear to me, Abraham had a
Glock 19 in his backpack.
And then it went through um TSA's X-ray
machine at Tampa Airport.
He is able instead of it being
segregated, he's able to be on the other
He realizes as it's going through,
"Oh my god, what have I done?" You know,
that feeling that you get, like, "Oh my
god, something Yeah, and and he panics.
Before TSA could segregate his bag for a
hand search, he grabs it and goes
running into the men's room on the other
side of security, in the secure area.
Mhm. He's in the bathroom. Abraham takes
the pistol out, wraps it in toilet
paper, and then throws the loaded gun
into the men's room trash can wrapped in
toilet paper.
He comes walking out of the bathroom
with his backpack, and TSA is like,
"Hey, you, come here."
And uh and they go, "We need to see
inside your backpack."
No problem, sir. Shows them inside the
backpack. No gun.
And they had seen the image on the X-ray
machine. They're not dummies. It's clear
as day.
And so, TSA, who is not their first
rodeo, dispatches an officer to the
bathroom where they just saw him walk
out of,
>> Mhm.
and then comes back with a loaded pistol
wrapped in toilet paper that he had
thrown in the trash can.
And he was arrested and handed off to
FBI for further investigation.
There's no evidence whatsoever that
Abraham was trying to do something bad.
Mhm. Okay?
Um
there's no you know the
Abraham Yacoub, I don't know what
ethnicity that is, but you can imagine
that the FBI took a closer look at him
um based on some fear that this was some
kind of terrorist plot. No indication of
that whatsoever. He was just another
Florida guy who forgot to stash his gun
in the car before going through
security,
but he has to plead guilty to this
airport security violation in federal
court.
Uh the cover-up was worse than the
crime. Right. So we're at his sentencing
hearing. Abraham's got an attorney.
The attorney argues that no one was
placed at risk by him putting that gun
wrapped in toilet paper in the garbage
can because people do not routinely dig
through those bins. Why would you?
That's the argument that the defense
attorney made.
But I'm curious from you
if you think that argument resonated
with the judge. Was he a felon?
In 2020, he was convicted of trying to
sneak a handgun onto a plane in Miami.
I think it's just changed.
I'm so sorry.
>> about to say probation.
>> that pertinent fact. So um so
uh which I imagine was probably a felony
back then. So he has felon in possession
of a firearms issues, but he also has
the the every dog gets one bite and this
is his second bite issue. So I think
that uh well we we'll know cuz I mean
that that
the minimum you get is is 3 years if you
have a gun Okay. in federal court if I
get caught with a gun, I get 3 years. If
I get caught with a gun
cuz I'm a felon in possession of a
firearm. That's it. It's 3 years.
>> Okay, good. You're you're logicking your
way into this. If there's if there's
drugs involved Mhm. then I'm going to
get 5 years. Okay. No dope. No.
So um
he's already
So I I would think he's at least going
to get I mean he's an idiot for running
and doing all that stuff. I still think
it it boils down to three or four years,
roughly three or four years. Pick a
number. Pick a number. Pick a number.
38 39 months. 39 months is your guess?
Yeah.
So that's what three and a half?
Wait, no. Three you know three three and
three three months.
The correct answer.
Abraham Yacoub, frequent flyer.
42 months. 42 months. You're there.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Right there. Good job. Good
job. Have you read about Abraham
recently in the last 19 weeks?
>> We have an update.
>> No. What happened to Abraham Yacoub? So
I searched this guy up cuz I'm like oh,
same town. I wonder if there's anyone
that's mutual friends. Well, there's
not, but in the Lakeland Gazette, this
is on May 28th, so you know, half a year
ago. Lakeland body shop owner admits to
$181,000
bank fraud scheme. Abraham Yacoub
pleaded guilty to depositing
checks from multiple times and
withdrawing, transferring, blah blah
blah. $181,000 bank fraud scheme. Um
as a part of his plea deal, Yacoub has
forfeited $181,000, the total amount
losses resulting from the scheme. He now
faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
A sentencing date has not yet been
scheduled. I'll give five. Is that a
state charge or a federal charge? Uh I
Oh, no. I think I read something about
FBI. The FBI conducted the
investigation's assistant Typically once
you're federal, they they kind of keep
picking it up. Abraham, we're we're He's
he's just He he just got out, too,
right? Like, you know, he got out out of
this guy can't he he can't he's you
know, what they call them
the guys that they they just keep
getting in trouble in prison. They can't
can't do right. He just can't you know,
they're like yeah, what's up? Can't do
right. I you know, I can't call it.
Okay, yeah. September 16th. Okay. Oh,
here we go. Lakeland man sentenced to
prison. So this is for both of you guys.
Okay, wait a minute. Wait, let's yeah.
Let me think here. I'm going to go
I'm going to go
>> fun in this seat. 60 Let's go
Let's go five years.
>> Was $180,000 was the fraud loss?
$181,500.
>> But we also know he's been arrested
multiple times. Which prosecutors say
was the loss to the financial
institutions he victimized. 48 months.
Um let's see. So it's running
consecutive, so I don't know if that
matters or not. Like in the sentencing.
Yeah. Uh consecutive is back-to-back,
isn't it?
Instead of concurrent.
Mhm. Yeah, consecutive is adding on to
your sentence. Concurrent is
overlapping. I'm almost positive.
>> But then that So they're saying that's
included in the No, I'm saying it's it's
after he gets done serving the time on
the the gun through the airport The
court The court ordered the term of
imprisonment must run consecutively
to Yacoub Yacoub's current federal
prison sentence. So he's going to do
some more time.
>> I said 48, you said something like 50
something. Yeah.
We but we don't even know what that is.
Yeah, it it is 2 years.
24 months. Oh, okay. I'm closer. You're
both wrong. Yeah.
Yeah. Let's not focus on that. Again, I
know you're not a big sports fan, but
you familiar with sort of the
the massive market in sports
memorabilia? Yes. Talk to me about what
your experience is with that. It's sort
of an interesting It's a real
interesting subculture. Like people who
are way into that stuff. Baseball card
shows, mitts, bats signed by Johnny
Bench, etc. Yeah, yeah. And then you
know, the the the cards, they're
collecting the
uh baseball cards, you know, the
And um actually there was a guy named
Anthony Curcio who
you know you know who that is? Does that
sound familiar?
>> I've heard It sounds real familiar.
>> Yeah, who who actually robbed a bank.
Oh, is it with all the same outfits?
>> Yes, the outfits guy. Great great story.
Um
but
so he got re-indicted.
I met him in prison. He got re-indicted
after he got out of prison.
And what he was doing or what what the
government says he was doing, he says he
wasn't doing this. Mhm.
is buying
I'm going to say
I'm going to say
bait what what was it? Baseball cards?
Or was it
baseballs? I'm going to say baseball
cards, I think. It was some memorabilia.
And he was buying I guess there's
different levels.
And so he was buying a level down. They
said he was buying like let's say it's A
B C D. I don't know what they are, but
say he he said he was buying a C.
And then he was packaging it as an A and
reselling it. And the difference is
$6,000, $7,000, $12,000 difference.
One's
$5,000 and the next one up is 12,000 or
something. Whatever, you know, depending
on the the whatever it is. And so he was
now he'd buy them and then he'd say,
"Hey, this is an This is a B-rated such
and such or this is an A-rated." And of
course he'd get the money and then send
them send them the thing and they get
there and they'd be like, "I don't know.
This isn't quite what but it was it's
it's
subjective. Yeah, it is. There's a lot
There's a lot of fraud and
counterfeiting in the world of sports
memorabilia, too. In fact, the FBI
Chicago when I was there a friend of
mine made a big case on a during the
Michael Jordan era in the 1990s had a
There was a guy who had like a giant
garage filled with like Michael Jordan
jerseys and he had like a team of urban
dudes who could sign Michael Jordan's
name on like the 23 of the number on the
Nike jersey
perfectly. Absolute perfect forgery of
Michael Jordan's signature. And they
were selling those and they and the
entire garage was filled with sporting
goods that was being
falsified with signatures and things
like that and then sold on the secondary
market for sports memorabilia at sports
memorabilia stores and shows and stuff
like that. And it was this massive fraud
that got shut down. I remember doing the
search warrant on it. And so the FBI
seized like
thousand hundreds, maybe thousands of
pieces of sports equipment like
baseballs, uh basketballs, um jerseys.
The question is at the end of the case,
what do we do with it? All forgeries,
right? Bad guys go to prison. At the end
of the case, what are we going to do
with all this stuff? And what we ended
up doing is reaching some kind of
agreement with the defense attorneys to
allow us to donate it to the Chicago
public schools, but we had to go through
and like wipe out all the fake
signatures and stuff. And so you know,
Chicago public schools got basketballs
from the FBI that year from from that
case.
Um
I I was going to say I I saw another one
by the way. There's another one where
the guy was doing uh
he was doing baseballs that were signed
by like, you know, Babe Ruth and so like
and they would they'd age them, beat
them up, and then they actually got
somebody who was like the grandson of
Mickey Mantle or something to open up an
authentication company. Yeah. And then
he authenticate he would authenticate
their stuff and put it on his website
certificate or whatever Yeah, like a
certificate of authenticity from you
know, this guy who was once again, you
know, Yeah. two two people removed. And
this guy was making just tons of money,
tons of money. They would do it for
years and then eventually they got
busted. Yeah, the case agent in this
case got to interview all the actual
players from the Bulls whose signatures
were there cuz he needed them as
witnesses in the case. And so Jordan
would say I'm going to need your
signature. And Jordan would say like,
you know, or Pippen and all these kind
of famous Chicago Bulls would say, "You
know, it looks very good to my
signature, but I actually do it at a
more steeper angle. I never signed the
two, I signed the three." And so they
were able to take a look at the stuff
and explain and explain why that's not
in fact their signatures. I don't think
the case went to trial, so those
athletes never had to testify, but it
was pretty cool for this agent who was a
big sports fan Yeah. to get to do this.
>> So on the topic of sports memorabilia,
55-year-old Mike Contel of Las Vegas was
a collector of rare sports memorabilia.
That was his thing. His claim to fame
was purchasing Jackie Robinson's
contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers and
he received a lot of publicity for
buying that piece of sports memorabilia,
the actual piece of paper.
So Mike spun this into a business
concept. He was going to basically
create an eBay for sports memorabilia
called Collector's Cafe. That was going
to be the website name. And he told
investors that he had personally, and
this is a big lie, but he told investors
that he had personally invested millions
of dollars into the company
and that he would run this for love of
the game without drawing a salary.
Okay. And somebody with that much
commitment to a business is
is an attract is attractive to
investors.
None of these claims are true, mind you,
but Mike was able to raise $6.1 million
from investors to get the Collector's
Cafe website off the ground.
And he stole $6 million of that living a
lavish lifestyle in his hometown of Las
Vegas. Mhm. Okay.
Uh he bought a Cadillac. Paid for
private school tuition for his kids.
Rented mansions throughout America for
luxury vacations. Like an Airbnb kind of
guy, but he's going to rent a mansion.
He's not going to stay in a condo. He's
not going to stay at the Hampton. He's
going to stay in a mansion that he rents
with someone else's money.
He also fails to pay taxes for the three
years that he was
that he was spending his investors'
money like a drunken sailor,
which obviously raises the eyebrows of
the IRS.
Uh investors aren't getting paid and
they can't help but notice that there's
no Collector's Cafe website out there
selling
selling stuff.
>> all he has to do is is start the
business and make it look
>> Yeah, let it fail. Like buy some stuff,
put some forgeries up there, put some
whatever, pretend that they were sold
cheap and you know, you could fake the
whole thing that it just failed. It just
failed, man.
>> I'm so sorry. You know. Yeah. He
investors called the S- Securities and
Exchange Commission, as we spoke about
before, the SEC has no criminal
authority. They looped the FBI into this
thing, okay?
Mike is no fool. He has a good
understanding of this freight train
headed his way.
So, he legally changes his name to
Mikhael Contelai.
Used to be Mike Contelai.
>> You want to take the fool back?
No fool thing back? And he flees to
Russia.
Okay. With his investors' money. I'm
gone. I'm going to Russia.
I'm no longer Mike Contelai.
I think the Russians don't Try to find
Mikhael Contelai in Russia. Good luck,
my friend.
So, the FBI gets an arrest warrant for
Mike. Then the show goes on, even if
he's not around, and he's an
international fugitive at that point.
The FBI enlists the help of Interpol. I
think a lot of people don't understand
what Interpol really is. And they're
like, "I want to be a special agent with
Interpol." There's no such thing. Right.
Interpol is just a clearinghouse, right?
And it's a way that if I have a
It's a way to that for international law
enforcement to communicate with one
another. And they put out these things
called red notices, which sounds sexy,
but it's really just a notation that
this guy is wanted by US criminal
authorities. And so, any Interpol nation
when he's
if he's moving in traveling through
Germany, let's say, and leaves Russia
and goes to Germany for a weekend to go
to Oktoberfest or whatever, at customs
or whatever border they have with each
other, he he runs it and it comes up
that there's an Interpol red notice.
They arrest him, contact, blah blah
blah. And that's pretty much what
happened. Mike was nabbed by German
authorities going into Germany
uh when he was traveling through Europe
and he was extradited back to the USA to
finally face justice on this investment
fraud charges.
He pleads guilty to the fraud charges.
Um
and so we're dealing with about $6
million loss.
Do we know the number of victims? Don't
know that I do, but
a lot. Let's say I mean a lot of victims
and uh
and he also has this inconvenient thing
that knowing that an investigation took
place, he basically took off to Russia.
And he probably should have been cooling
his jets in Russia, but he decided he
wanted to see Germany try on some
lederhosen.
How much time you going to give
Mikhael Contelai, also known as Mike
Contelai? $6.1 million. Do
What you don't know? Do we know anything
about his criminal history? I don't. I
don't I don't think he had an extensive
criminal history. I mean
I don't know.
5 6 years? Let's see.
67
months.
67 months is your guess. Yeah. It's a
long time.
Is it? I don't know. I don't want to
serve that much time. 6 years.
He could do that standing on his head.
Uh yeah, that's 6 years.
>> tougher, your first 6 years or your last
6 years?
>> First decade
is the hardest. Um
No, probably the first 3 4 years. Okay.
>> First 3 4 years and after that
Yeah, that then you kind of settle in
and realize, "Hey, I better make a life
here. I'm going to
better get myself a routine and
This is going to be you're going to be
here a little bit." Got it. Yep. Well,
you guess again. 67?
>> 67 months? Uh the correct answer is Mike
Contelai was sentenced to 51 months in
prison. 51 times I missed it. Yeah. 61.
Yeah. The World Cup is coming to the US
and Canada and Mexico. Nice. Yeah,
awesome.
>> We got the We got the World Cup. You
into soccer at all? No. Me neither. No.
Not even a little bit. Not even a little
bit. Uh a lot of people are. Yeah, no,
it's it's most popular sport in the
world.
>> isn't it?
>> I know. People are really really
comfortable with 0-0 games.
Do you know that you could bet on
soccer? Like on these sports apps?
>> Bet on anything, yeah. Yeah, a buddy of
mine I was talking to, a former
prosecutor, we were hanging out in
Tallahassee and he's been he's really
into Premier League soccer in England. I
can give a about it, but he's he's
really into it.
And he also bets on it. And I go, "How
do you bet on it? Like is there a point
spread? Like, you know, like a one point
spread would be huge in soccer cuz a lot
of games end up 0-0." And he goes, "No,
it's He goes, "There are point spreads
that on some of the games, but most of
the time you bet odds. Like this guy's
three to two to this team's three to two
to win, etc. like that."
Just curious about soccer. I'm
not much of a gambling angle on this
one.
>> Has nothing to do with this. Um well,
no, I mean it is a soccer story, but
it's not much of a gambling story. I I
was in prison with a guy that in
was Peruvian. Mhm. And he was a
professional gambler. Oh, okay. Uh and
he Sports or casino games or what? Uh
casino games. I was I mean cards. Sorry,
not yeah, cards.
>> Like blackjack? Uh like yeah, no,
blackjack. Blackjack. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
makes sense. Uh so
Uh
he's he explained the whole thing to us.
He's a super interesting guy, but he
Uh he and his buddies used to bet on
soccer games and in
He's like, "In Peru." Like he named a
different country down there. There's
different levels. He's like, "It's not
like international I mean it's not like
it's like a It's not like these are
like, you know, the whoever the main
team is and whatever where those are
There's There's overlapping leagues with
different different levels of play,
yeah. Right.
>> And so, you can only bet so much. And he
said he they would go in and they would
they would bribe the the players to
throw the games or to to win by don't
win by more than this or do that. And
then he would go and open up accounts
because when you open up an account,
they would only let you bet so much. So,
he'd have he also owned a phone a
company where they would did like
uh they sold stuff and so he had like 2
300 people that worked for him. He'd go
get a bunch of his employees to open up
in Peruvian. Like they're just they pay
them nothing. Mhm. And so, they'll do
anything. And Peru is also a like a
class society, right? Like you have like
four or five different classes. He's He
is on I was not in the up the top class.
I'm in the sec- just below that. He
said, "But your employees are basically
just above the last class." He's like,
"They'll do anything. They're basically
They're basically slaves." Wow. And I
was like she I mean he was he was
blatant about it. He's like, "They
They'll They do anything for money. Like
they're starving. They lose their job.
They He said they could be dead in a
month." Huh. And I was like, "My god."
Oh, he was brutal.
Uh we called him Peru Babu.
Um What was he in for? Uh cuz I
He was in for uh extortion. Oh, boy. So,
they would sell stuff on the They'd sell
stuff on TV commercials, right? Late at
night. And it would be
it would be um What is it? COD? Oh.
Yeah, like so So, a lot of these guys
they convince them over the phone like
they'd get the ab roller, right? Like
what she's buying for And then someone
shows up at the house with the ab roller
and says, "That'll be $15." You collect
it.
>> buying it for 15. Okay. They're doing
COD for 250. And then so so that they
they ship it to them. Mhm. He goes, "And
then they're like, 'By that time'" He
said the guy He bought it at in the
morning a week ago. He's sobered up now,
you know. He's like, "I don't want $250
for that. I don't want that." And then
they go, "Okay." And then they'd call
the guy that his He had a He had a
collection agency that would call the
guy. And because most of these guys are
illegals, they would threaten to call
ICE or to call put get get a Yeah,
threaten to have a um a a warrant placed
on them. And then if they weren't a US
citizen or they could lose their
citizenship. Like these guys are all
from other countries. And just terrify
the hell out of them, you know.
>> time did he get? Do you know? He got
like 4 years or 3 years. And what's so
funny about it is like this whole
indictment and everything happened
and he flew in one day to to I think he
got to Miami. I think it was like he got
to Miami or It was I think it was Miami
and they arrested him. Mhm.
Um because he flew in to go He was going
to go gamble. He was going to like fly
in and then go to you know, like a You
fly into Miami and then you fly to Vegas
or something. He was a soccer guy, huh?
But one of the things he did was this.
And he he explained he'd go to his
employees and get like 40 of them to
open up accounts. And then he bet on all
those cuz he said they they can't bet
much on these lower ranking games. And
then they'd go bribe the guys to like,
"You guys are going to win, but you
can't win by more than two points."
>> Wow. And then he they'd do that and
they'd win. He's like, "Oh, we'd rake
up. Like we'd make a ton of money."
I've told him before like, "Bro, you got
to come and do the podcast." Cuz he had
one story after another. He was like,
"Absolutely not. Yes.
>> Not doing that." Cuz It's confessing.
Well And it's also someone else would
have lost money in that game. People
have emotional interest in these soccer
teams. It could create problems with
him. No, his real problem is his family.
I see.
>> Because it because your status is such a
big deal. Like he didn't want anybody to
know Oh, that he'd gone to prison even.
Well, one was certainly doing this.
Yeah. And going to prison like everybody
in his family looks down on him because
he's like a professional gambler. Like
that's disgusting. Then he went to
prison. His whole family is telling
everybody that the American justice
system that they framed him, that they
like he's absolutely innocent is what
he's telling everybody. So when he goes
back there, he's convinced his family's
convinced all of their friends that he
is he's innocent. Yeah. And I'm like,
you're not innocent, bro. You're guilty.
Like you've told like he's like he's
like, "They don't know that. They don't
know that."
But yeah, that was one of the things he
did like I mean these are like you know,
it was I like I hate to say it, but it
was pretty interesting, pretty
>> Oh, without question. Yeah, it's a
fascinating story. Yeah. Yeah.
>> He'd be a great guest on the show if you
could forget him. Old Perubabu. Speaking
of soccer
33-year-old Adrian Kowuba
was born in Uganda
and then immigrated to Boston and
founded a company called AK Sports.
>> Oh, good for her. Him.
Oh.
Yeah, him. It's okay. Adrian could go
either way, but he's a him.
Um don't
>> of Rocky. Don't
>> Adrian. Don't misgender Adrian.
Okay. Adrian began offering high-yield
investment opportunities in African pro
soccer events.
Promising people returns of 25 to 50%
with a a turnover of just a few months.
Perfectly reasonable as we've discussed.
>> couldn't lose because they were
personally guaranteed by this
charismatic young entrepreneur. Of
course.
>> Adrian, right? Of course.
So he takes in 2.3 million dollars from
investors. And the dirty little secret
is that the money was not going to fund
pro soccer but rather to fund Adrian's
luxurious lifestyle.
Okay?
He spent the investor money on a new
Lexus jewelry designer clothing and
expensive vacations to escape Boston
right here in beautiful Florida.
Nice, huh?
>> Yeah. It's just good times. Now, again,
the early investors received their money
back plus the guaranteed rates of return
and this helped Adrian's program go
viral in Boston.
But what nobody understood, Madcox, is
that those investment returns were not
being derived from African soccer events
but the principal investments of other
investors. In what we call, say it with
me.
>> A Ponzi scheme.
>> Right. Okay.
So this churning of funds is what he's
doing here and
you're going to like these numbers. So
he takes in 2.3 million dollars, but he
only kept and used $625,000
of that money. So the rest of it went
back to the investors.
>> was Ponzi'd back to investors. Okay. So
he took in 2.3 million dollars under
false pretenses, but the net loss to the
victims in this case was only $625,000.
Of course the FBI investigated because
they don't like Ponzi schemes. And um
and he gets arrested and pleads guilty
uh for fraud you know, fraud charges.
Um
they did seize his Lexus and jewelry, so
you're going to get a little bit of
recovery there, which really counts
toward restitution but not the
sentencing guidelines loss.
Um and he's a Ugandan citizen still,
perfectly legal here in the US, but
after he's done serving his time,
however long that is and that's up to
you, Madcox
he's going back to Uganda. So I don't
think anyone's going to be getting any
restitution from young Adrian.
How much time are you going to give this
soccer lover? 36 months. 36 months.
You feel very secure in that answer,
don't you?
>> I feel good about 36 months. You feel
very good about 36 months. You're going
to stick to that. Yes.
>> Nothing I can push or pull or tell or
ask that's going to make you change your
mind. I just want to ask. Do you know
how much it is, Colby?
>> We I I have no idea. It's just a
conversation worth having or should we
Can I get it up and a down with a thumb,
something? 36 months.
>> 36 months is your guess. The correct
answer
drum roll please. Adrian Kowuba was
sentenced to 27 months in prison.
>> win.
>> back to Uganda. You lost this one.
>> What? You lost the battle but you won
the war, Madcox. You won the war.
>> you talking about the past? Why you
bringing up the past?
>> go back and uh tally up the official
record. Well
>> to have to start adding some stakes to
this thing. Like Get what? Push-ups?
Punishment.
Or something. Something? Punishment?
What do you mean punishment?
>> Or a reward. Uh there I'll go with let's
go with the act. The carrot.
>> I happen to know that you've been taking
boxing classes. I've taken two two
boxing classes. They were horrible. We
could duke it out for a special. Hell
though. I got the reach. I was going to
say.
God.
>> Celebrity boxing?
I look at Mike Tyson sometimes. I'll
watch like you know, they'll they'll
come up and I'll see Mike Tyson go up
against some guy who's like towering
over him. And I'm just like, Mike
Tyson's about that like I'm looking at
this. If I was Mike Tyson, I would be
thinking, "This dude's going to beat the
tar off of me." And let me tell you
something, Mike Tyson just smashes that
dude left and right. And I think that's
not really how it works.
>> he generates.
>> really how it works in real life.
I'd be like, what? Yeah. Well, I'm glad
you're enjoying boxing though. It's
good.
>> I'm not enjoying boxing. I didn't say
that. It's horrible. You don't like the
boxing you've been doing? Oh, I thought
you were I thought you were into it. No,
I've said multiple times I'm not
enjoying it. It's it's Because it
because it's achy?
I'm very achy and also Jess loves it.
And she loves it. She gets so much joy.
I walk out of there
>> have something you guys can do together?
No, I walk out of there a beaten man and
I'm achy and tired. My back hurts and my
arms hurt and my shoulders hurt and
she's all peppy and happy. It's very
upset and that's part of the the upset
and that's part of what gets me upset is
how excited she is to get up. She jumps
out of bed in the morning. "Come on,
we're going boxing." I'm like, "Oh,
enough. Stop. Stop."
>> women's boxing has taken off as a sport.
>> This isn't even real boxing. It's almost
like Jazzercise or something. Like we're
not really boxing. We're punching a
a water bag, you know, we're not I don't
I'm not dangerous.
>> Do you wrap your hands Do you wrap your
hands before you put the gloves on? We
Well, we No, we have like a glove inside
of a glove. Okay, got it. So it's not
the not the old school like looks like
an Ace bandage wrap around your wrist to
keep things secure. No, we don't have
like What was the guy from Rocky? The
guy his trainer? Mickey's not there. We
don't have Mickey there to Come here,
Rock.
>> a mouth guard?
No, there's no Protect those chompers.
It's Jazzercise. It's it's I'm not
Listen, at the end of 6 weeks,
I am not going to be a lean
I might be lean, but I'm not going to be
like a fighting machine.
>> I see you going out to bars and biker
bars. You looking at me? You got a
problem? You got a problem? What? What?
Try it out. You got all these skills
now. What? Oh, you got skills, man. Take
them for a spin. I have no skills after
two classes.
>> Kick someone's ass.
Not going to happen. I'm just not not
not a fighter like that.
>> Oh man, but you got the fire inside your
belly now.
Come on, let's wrap this up.
>> done. I'm done. Uh that was 12 stories
and I will see you next time.
>> And I won.
I won.
>> You won. Barely. Yeah. Barely. And
Colby's going to go back
and
>> to go back and Yeah, there might be some
editorial notes. There might be. Yeah.
Just edit it like make it Yeah. Um
whatever no matter what in the end.
>> Mhm. If you have to cut one out you have
to cut one out.
>> Yeah. Um Okay, what Okay, I'm going. Oh,
wait. Wait. Wait.
>> Yeah, yeah, of course. Uh we we have Tom
Tom Simon Wait, no. Simon Investigate.
No, simoninvestigations.com
is my private investigator firm. Anyone
from the Madcox Show who wants a free
consultation, let me know. My specialty
is fraud, so if you've been ripped off
in a fraud um or you're in litigation
involving fraud and you need an expert
witness, I would love to have a free
consultation with you and talk about how
I might be able to help. If you are part
of a group, organization, or company
that brings in outside speakers and you
want someone to one to come speak to
your sales force or your management team
about how to use FBI behavioral science
techniques to increase sales and up your
game, I would love to talk to you about
that as well. Thank you so much for
having me.
Okay.
>> Spoken like a true professional right
there. All right. Hey you guys, I
appreciate you watching. Do me a favor,
hit the subscribe button, hit the bell
so you get notified of videos just like
this. Also, we're going to all we are
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We're also going to leave a link to the
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