Seasons & episodes

Perry Griggs ran an investment fraud claiming to sell coffee futures, when all he did was keep investor money. He was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to eight years in federal prison.

A trio of Texas con men scores $100 million, telling investors there's big money in the "life settlement" insurance biz. When the fraudsters fail to pay returns and keep the money for themselves, it all comes crashing down.

With a 30 year career in real estate, many thought broker Doug Vaughan was a man to be trusted. His charisma helped make him a fortune in New Mexico real estate. But it was all lies.

The Sandhogs Local 147, a New York City construction union, whose workers build tunnels and underground passageways, entrusts Melissa King for overseeing union benefits to ensure their retirements. Instead, King uses the workers funds to cut herself checks to the tune of $42 million.

In Chicago, Jack Walsh and Charles Martin appear to be getting very rich running a foreign currency trading brokerage. But is the money really coming from savvy trades? In 2007, a routine audit reveals some "irregularities" in One World's accounting.

San Francisco entrepreneur Samuel "Mouli" Cohen starts an internet music company and fraudulently takes in $31 million from celebrities, investors, and a charity dedicated to help the poor. He claims they will make a fortune when his company is sold to Microsoft. But there is no deal.

Trevor Cook appears to be a local boy made good in Minneapolis, where he runs an investment fund called the Oxford Group. Along with three cohorts, Cook solicits an amazing $190 million dollars from 700 U.S. investors, many of whom heard his message through a talk radio star.

Philip Barry runs his scam from Bay Ridge, a solid working-class neighborhood where families go back generations. Through local connections, Barry pulls more than 800 investors into a $40 million scheme offering "guaranteed returns" on investments.

A New Age evangelist becomes a greedy, groovy, guru telling Florida investors that positive thinking can lead to positive returns in her auto financing business. But this false prophet is returning nothing but false profits in her $113 million scam. She draws in some 2000 victims but when the F.B.I. finds out about Cladek's scam, this greedster doesn't have a prayer. And, civilization is on the verge of collapse, Ronnie Gene Wilson tells his followers, and the only path to a secure future is paved with investment in precious metals. But for a guy who predicts the imminent demise of the dollar, this South Carolinian certainly seems greedy for greenbacks. He takes in $93 million. Over time, investors realize that Wilson isn't investing their money in metal, but using it to build a luxurious doomsday bunker complete with an organic farm.

A Florida man hits it big when he takes home almost $13 million in a Florida lottery jackpot. Instead of living large, Abraham Shakespeare gives away most of his money to people in his community. So when Dee Dee Moore offers to help manage his winnings, it's a welcome relief for Shakespeare. But what seems like a helping hand turns out to be a hand helping herself and Shakespeare ends up paying a deadly price.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael McCant is a former bank robber who says he's gone "legit," and is now making millions by promoting up-and-coming rap musicians. But these millions are coming from investors like Bernice Tingle who have given McCant their entire nest eggs. Mark Anderson owns a fine wine storage business in Sausalito, California. But when clients discover their wine is missing, they accuse Anderson of theft. Anderson tries to conceal his crime with gasoline and a blowtorch, destroying more than $200 million dollars' worth of wine, and bringing scores of family-owned wineries to the brink of ruin.

A wife finds out her insurance agent husband Joe Caronna has been stealing money from their friends by selling bogus annuities.

Middle-aged commercial real estate investor Ed Okun is in love with a boat show model almost half his age. He showers her with jewels, cars, even a helicopter. To fund his hormone-induced multimillion dollar spending spree, Okun steals client money to live large and impress his new bride.

(1) A small-town comptroller steals $53 million to fund a horse-breeding empire. (2) A crooked real estate developer lures victims to his phony residential oasis.

(1) Feds investigate financial advisor J.D. Salinas and discover a $39 million scam. (2) A Chicago-area rapper convinces a local businessman that he's got a new gig that doesn't exist.

(1) A man threatens investment professionals to make him rich. (2) Two judges get rich off a secret deal to build juvenile detention centers.

A former Detroit mayor and his friends extort city contractors, abuse public funds and turn the mayor's office into their own cash-making machine.

A man attempts to commit suicide and confesses to an extraordinary fraud that he perpetrated for the past two decades at a leading commodity futures brokerage.

(1) Two brothers ripped off millions from homeowners in a remodeling scheme. (2) A serial scam artist tricks Florida retirees into fake New York real estate investments.

(1) Three friends go to New York to realize their dreams, which quickly turn criminal. (2) A money trail from drug traffickers leads to a suburban dad and firefighter.

An independent film spins out of control when a filmmaker's silent partner and spiritual guru helps himself to investor funds.

Brothers Darain and Cory Atkinson start a business selling vehicle service contracts, but the warranties prove worthless and the brothers pocket millions.

A man concocts a $50 million phony international real estate scheme spending millions on his own lavish lifestyle.

(1) Rivertown Financial, a home's equity and owners becoming homeless. (2) A financial planner reaps millions from client accounts, including the 401k of workers at a camp for seriously ill children.