Original subtitles

In this episode of American Greed, in a small town, a money manager named Bob

McClain is a noted philanthropist, giving away millions to charities.

Please, from my heart to your heart.

He reveled in that attention.

I think he was totally in his element.

I am a good guy.

I am taking care of my city. I am taking care of my people.

But is McClain's show of wealth just phony philanthropy?

He did support causes that he appeared to care about.

The problem is you've got to remember where the money came from.

He was donating using other people's money.

In a small town in Tennessee,

A man sits in the empty parking lot of a church, alone with his thoughts and a

loaded revolver.

Robert McClain is in a world of trouble, having squandered at least $40 million

of clients' money.

Will he seek salvation?

Can he be saved?

The story begins in 1985.

When Bob McLean hangs out a shingle in Murfreesboro, a small town 30 miles from

Nashville. In the beginning, McLean and Company is a one -man investment firm.

McLean manages the money of old friends, like his fraternity brother, Ron

Venata. I was always told that Bob was investing for himself, his

family, and eight or ten other clients such as myself.

McLean offers Bonata guaranteed rates of return between 8 % and 12%, buying

primarily volatile futures and options contracts.

What Bob told me is when we're in the market, he would go in and buy that

morning. And then at night, before he quit trading, we were liquid. And I

like that part.

Bonata is a successful commercial contractor.

This is one of the projects we completed in the late 80s. He takes the profit

from each building project and invests it with McLean.

Sometimes maybe for a few months, sometimes maybe for six months. So

it started for me.

Over the years, McLean's above -market investment returns are the talk of the

town.

They would say that, you know, this guy, he's a self -made millionaire and that

he's done it all himself and he's a guy you'd really want to get with.

Jonathan Quinn first meets McLean when he's playing football for Middle

Tennessee State University.

It's McLean's alma mater, and he's active in the Athletic Booster Club.

Quinn, a star quarterback, has a breakout senior year, and a world of

opportunity opens up for him.

With my size and arm strength and speed,

I ended up getting looked at a little bit. Got invited to the NFL Combine. Did

well. Teams worked me out. Next thing you know, I got drafted.

Quinn goes in the third round of the NFL draft at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

So I got a signing bonus, which was way more than I could possibly dream of.

And statistically, NFL players are bankrupt within one to two years after

leave the NFL. A really high percentage.

I wanted to be safe. I did not want to be one of those guys. You know, we

have a lot growing up, and so I wanted to put my money where I knew it would be

there that if I played one year or if I played 15, I knew I would have it.

Quinn has a seven -year run in the NFL, and with a young, growing family, he

lives frugally.

All of his savings goes straight to Bob McClain.

He just said that he invests in things that are profitable, whether it's

bonds, real estate.

you know, buying businesses, that type of thing.

Unknown to investors, his practices are not only unusual, they're illegal.

McLean invests his clients' money in his own name and gives them unsecured

promissory notes, IOUs, offering what seems like a good explanation.

He would tell me that he would pool the money and he would buy contracts

overseas or futures, and he could make more money trading in larger...

if you will, than individual blocks, and it seemed to make sense at the time,

and he always did what he said he would do.

For his clients, it all seems like a normal business arrangement with a

advisor.

He says I hit singles. He says I keep hitting singles. I don't go for the home

runs over the long haul. That's going to be better than the volatility of the

stock market, and that sounded good. It sounded safe. It sounded secure.

I always got my checks on time.

They were always.

exactly when and where they were supposed to be, and for the correct

But for business law professor Sandra Benson, then a local estate attorney,

arrangement seems highly unusual.

She meets with a client who provides information on what he calls his

investment at McLean & Company. He enjoys the steady, guaranteed returns.

I was expecting to see an account statement listing the client's assets,

instead the client brought to me a one -paragraph promissory note, just a few

sentences, made payable to the client from Bob McLean.

Benton suspects the notes are illegal.

Bob McClain's promissory notes would have been securities that needed to be

registered. He was selling those. He would have needed a license to do that.

What's more alarming, the notes are reminiscent of a certain infamous con

artist. In Charles Ponzi's scheme, he used promissory notes to attract

and told investors he was investing their money on their behalf. And he was

earning profits in what he said was a lucrative enterprise.

A skeptical Benson calls McLean, who was unwilling to provide more than fuzzy

details about his investments.

He told me, well, the client can get their money out any time. It's a demand

note. Of course, after that conversation, I suggested that is

client do, get their money out. The client does not share her doubts

and removes only part of his money.

Indeed, Sandra Benson seems to be the only person in town who has any doubts

about Bob McClain.

Next on American Greed, Bob McClain makes it big.

I heard anywhere from $20 to $50 to $100 million.

And his spending spins out of control.

He would take a limousine to a football game to his skybox.

And later, Bob McClain's private life.

The bachelor gives close to a million dollars to several men.

Young men that had been students at Middle Tennessee State University, there

not appear to be any kind of employment relationship there.

By 2001, money manager Bob McClain appears to have the Midas touch. He's

managing millions for his satisfied clients.

The investment vehicle itself is highly unorthodox.

McClain is investing in his own name, supposedly on behalf of his clients.

He offers unsecured promissory notes with fixed returns of 10 to 20 percent.

But in the small town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the notes and Bob's word are

as good as gold.

People are like the hold back from the old days when a handshake and your

word were a time -honored tradition. For over 20 years, Bob McClain did exactly

what he told me he would do.

Ron Bonata is an old friend of McClain and his biggest investor.

He trusts McClain 100%.

and his faith is affirmed each time he visits McLean's office and sees his

trading desk.

When I would visit him, he would always pay careful attention to those screens,

and he would make a big deal out of it. Well, because this is happening, you're

going to see a reaction over here in a few minutes, and you did.

When musician Alan Moore retires and settles in Murfreesboro...

An acquaintance introduces him to Bob McLean.

I remember I said to him, I'm not one of your larger fish in the pond.

I've just sold a house up north, and I don't know if you even deal with people

who have as little as I do to invest.

He said, no, he absolutely did, and that he would be interested in talking about

symphony. He was interested in the fact that I had a studio here, and we became

very comfortable very quickly.

McLean is a master salesman, quickly establishing common ground with anyone.

With Moore, it's a love of music.

I think now looking back, that first day that I met him in the office, he

already had orchestrated in his mind, he worked quite fast, that he was going to

woo me by the commonality of the bond of music, symphonies, instruments.

And that's what he did.

Moore invests with McLean.

To his surprise, it takes a month for McLean to write him a promissory note.

And when it came, I remember thinking, this is barely legal.

But yet, I'm surrounded by some very wonderful people in our community who

invested far more than I did. So I just sort of, as a musician, didn't have any

reason to doubt.

Even more reassuring, McLean invests for his own family.

They trusted him.

to handle the family money and grow it so that it would provide

for his mother and then be an inheritance for his brothers.

Bob McLean says, trust me, and nearly everyone does.

Everyone that is but Sandra Benson, a business law professor at Middle

State.

For years, she suspects McLean's fund bears the marks of a Ponzi scheme.

He was a one -person show, wasn't accountable.

He was taking monies in and holding them jointly in his account, pooling

that with other investors' money.

But in Murfreesboro, almost no one shares Benson's doubts.

In fact, long -time investors like Ron Bonata decide to double down.

The longer I worked, the more money I made.

So I had more money to invest with Bob.

Banana owned several million dollars of real estate.

And Bob talked me into using the equity that I had.

He decides to use some of his real estate holdings as collateral to borrow

banks. So, for example, if I had a piece of real estate that was worth $1

million, the bank...

On an 80 to 20 loan to value ratio would loan me $800 ,000.

I would invest $800 ,000 with Bob McLean.

Bob McLean would pay me 20 % interest.

I would pay the bank 6 or 7.

So there is a 13 or 14 % spread, and that's a lot of money.

By 2002, people notice a big change in Robert McLean.

The once low -profile broker now seems to shout success.

All of a sudden you begin to see him at a much higher profile at different

functions and different charity events and so forth.

He began to come around in a chauffeur -driven limousine, and so it created

quite a conversation, you know, from that standpoint.

McLean wants to see his name chiseled in stone at his beloved alma mater.

In late 2002, he pledges $1 .5 million to MTSU's School of Music, and

it's renamed the Robert W.

McLean School of Music.

When Bob did that, the news media carried it. He was perceived as very

in giving and giving back to his university, and so many professors and

instructors and administrators at the university, in turn, invested with

But there's a mystery at the heart of Bob McClain.

Where exactly is all the money coming from?

McClain is managing at least $40 million of local investors' money, but he's

living like someone who has his own multimillion -dollar portfolio.

You know, like everyone else, I wondered, you know, what has happened?

How has he done this? How has he changed? Because you go from a fairly

profile to this, and you go from, you know...

Good financial position to one that's, you know, a total different level.

Rumors abound about how McLean made his millions.

I had heard that Bob had invented real -time computer data for the crawling

stock market quotes that you see at the bottom of various TV stations and that

he had sold that to CBS for a significant sum of money.

Bob had developed a trading program.

and that he sold that for millions.

I heard anywhere from $20 to $50 to $100 million.

And as to how exactly he's investing his portfolio, McLean's clients are a

little fuzzy on that too.

He wasn't intentionally secretive. I think he wanted to get him off the air

it was just a bit too complicated and to just sort of, I mean, he never said

this, but it was like, trust me.

You'll be glad she did.

While his investment strategy remains mysterious, McLean's spending is for all

to see.

In 2003, McLean moves to a new home in a gated community.

He hires a decorator who spends two years buying lavish decor for the home,

including a $50 ,000 Steinway piano.

He buys a $1 .4 million condo on Florida's Gulf Coast.

He buys a $1 .5 million lake house and rides around in a custom -built

limousine, complete with his own chauffeur.

I got into what appeared to be very pastel shades, purple lights, in the

the limo.

Champagne was in the limo ice chest.

Next on American Green, McLean's ultimate vanity project.

A Hollywood -style movie shot in his own hometown.

He was living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

American Express bills of $10 ,000 to $20 ,000 a month.

In 2003, Robert McClain is a noted money manager and philanthropist in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

His client list is flush with the wealthiest people in town.

And he donates millions to charity, helping to create the Robert W. McClain

School of Music.

At the Stones River Country Club, he is a local celebrity.

Almost everyone.

would come up and mention something about their golf game, something about

impending social event, something to pet Bob on the back. And I think he

reveled in that attention.

McLean shares his wealth with his favorite causes, including the Country

Hall of Fame in Nashville.

The Hall of Fame wants to buy a guitar once owned by country legend Mabel

and a mandolin played by Bill Monroe.

the father of bluegrass.

As WSMV, Nashville's NBC affiliate, reports... The holy grail for bluegrass

music. Back in 1981, Monroe brought the fabled mandolin with him during an

interview with Dan Miller.

Now they're two of the most important instruments in music history.

This was the guitar... The Hall of Fame's director, Kyle Young, meets with

McClain. Oh, I immediately liked him.

I mean, he demonstrated very early on that he cared deeply about music and

therefore about what we do.

Mr. Bob McLean.

He was an easy guy to talk to.

McLean pledges $1 .5 million to purchase these historic treasures and joins the

board of directors.

It's played from my heart to your heart.

It will touch you.

Highly publicized celebrations bring in artists like bluegrass legend Earl

Scruggs, the Carter family, and Vince Gill.

In fact, Vince invited Bob up on stage to play with him.

He liked the spotlight.

He liked the attention.

That's his personality.

to new investors.

And in his hometown of Shelbyville, population 16 ,000, McLean spends an

astonishing $1 .3 million financing a movie entitled Our Very Own.

It attracts Hollywood star Jason Ritter, the son of John Ritter.

He even invited me to go along and see the movie set and impressed me.

Retired school teacher Becky Lucinski meets Bob as she recovers from two

traumatic events, the death of her father and a diagnosis of breast cancer.

At that time, I inherited some money from my father, and

since I was so weak from chemo, my brother invested the money with Bob

Impressed by his reputation, Lucinski invests $600 ,000.

most of her inheritance for a fixed 15 % return.

To my knowledge, his name was good in Murfreesboro, so it just seemed like a

right thing to do.

It seemed like the right thing to do, especially when the wealthiest people in

town are McLean investors.

You know, you tend to look at something like that and go, well, my gosh, if it's

good enough for them, surely it's good enough for me. And then I begin to find

people whose net worth I'll...

Likely we'll never see. And so you get so many of these notable people with

and you become unquestionable.

A few people, however, have questions about Bob McClain.

One is Mark Purtle, a real estate developer and car dealer. In 2003,

has a half million dollars he wants to invest for nine months until he opens a

new dealership.

McLean offers him a deal.

He did agree to pay me 12%, which at that time was significantly above the

certificate of deposit rate at a local bank.

So I thought, well, this is a good place to park the money for about nine

months.

When it comes time to open the dealership, Purtle requests the money

interest. Then he became unreachable, and each time that I would call him...

The voicemail would be full.

It would be impossible to leave him a message.

McLean finally responds, but dribbles the money back in small installments.

Purtle has to tap into other funds to open his venture.

Though McLean eventually pays him back in full, Purtle sees signs of trouble.

Here was a person who was supposed to have tens of millions of dollars in both

his personal assets and other people's investments, and that he couldn't return

approximately a half a million dollars, you know, in one payment.

Where is all the money going?

McLean clearly is living a lavish lifestyle.

He would take a limousine to a football game to his skybox, and he always wanted

to include the most prominent people in the community.

He makes another splashy million -dollar contribution to his alma mater in front

of a huge audience.

It was actually our first nationally televised football game. It was probably

the largest crowd attendance we'd had, and so we had a formal presentation in

recognition of the game.

He presented a big, huge check and made a big splash about the pianos that he

had purchased for the university.

And, you know, you wonder whether or not there's other reasons for doing that.

This man is a symbol of hard work, determination. In public, McLean's image

golden. But not all of McLean's money is given with such pomp and circumstance.

The bachelor is giving regular cash gifts to more than a dozen men, as

investigators will later learn.

It was unusual to give $3 ,000 to $5 ,000 gifts continually to these people,

and we could not determine what they were being paid for.

Most of the men are current and former students at Middle Tennessee State

University. In some cases, McLean pays for apartments and tuition.

In all, McLean spends close to a staggering $1 million in cash gifts to

men in four years.

I guess looking back, I think Bob had a secretive or a you can't know what I

know, you can't go where I go or do what I do side.

After years of unrestrained spending and secret gifts, it's no surprise when

some of his investors say he seems desperate for cash.

Jonathan Quinn, a former NFL player, has invested $700 ,000 with McLean over the

last 10 years.

He called me one time toward the end about $10 million.

If I could find it, then he would pay 10%. He'd make 10, I'd make 10.

I don't know people. I mean, people I know, I'm not going to call anybody

for $10 million.

You know, that doesn't make sense.

Quinn turns him down.

He calls Mark Purtle with an even better offer, a guaranteed 20 % return on a

multimillion -dollar investment.

It kind of astounded me that someone could promise 20%.

It's almost impossible. There's probably two people in the history of the stock

market that produce 20 % returns on a year -after -year basis.

And I found it very disturbing. And I knew at that time that I had no

of ever giving him any of my money again.

Next on American Greed, see how investor Ron Bonata uses the camera in his cell

phone to bring a Ponzi schemer to his knees.

I think.

This is what begins to bring the house of cards down.

By 2006, Bob McLean claims he has $40 million under management, but his

investment strategy is highly unusual.

McLean issues promissory notes to clients and says he invests their money

his own name.

I can sum up a major red flag in three words, unsecured promissory note.

After investing for nearly 20 years, McLean's old fraternity brother, Ron

Venata, has unwittingly served as the keystone of a Ponzi scheme.

He's the single biggest McLean investor.

with a total of $8 million.

$3 .5 million is his own cash, and another $4 .5 million is borrowed from

banks. For years, the arrangement works beautifully.

Bob's paying me like a clock.

I'm paying the bank like a clock.

Everybody's happy.

Until January 2007, when Venata gets a disturbing call.

I'm asked to come to the bank by senior loan officers, and I do.

And at that time, they drop a bomb. They say, we need you to pay this loan off

as quickly as you can.

I say, for what reason? Give me a reason.

They gave me no reason.

The bank knows about Venata's large investment with McLean.

And perhaps they've heard whispers of McLean's lavish spending.

Whatever the reason, they're calling in the loan.

Bonato phones his old friend and asks to cash out $4 .5 million of his equity.

And Bob assured me that we would have the money available, and so I was

expecting to pay the bank off at the end of April.

But I go to the post office to get my check, and it's not there.

Several weeks later, McClain still does not deliver.

Within two or three weeks...

his excuses start changing.

The new excuse is the money's tied up and it's in an offshore account, but

being held up because of the, quote, Patriot Act.

Bonata grows increasingly frustrated and seeks counsel from attorney Steve

Riley. I spent a lot of time talking to him about the fact that the money might

not be there.

And, frankly, he resisted.

Which didn't surprise me. They had been friends for a long time, and there was

quite a history there.

He didn't believe that the guy wasn't going to pay.

Riley advises his client to keep the pressure on.

And so I tell him, I said, Bob, I'm going to file a lawsuit against you if

don't show me where my money is.

And he said, I'll meet you across the street in the bank parking lot, and I'll

show you where your money is.

Bonata hops in the passenger's side of McLean's Jeep Wrangler, and McLean shows

Bonata a single sheet of paper that he hopes will allay his fears.

This was a settlement statement from a brokerage house in Chicago.

The house was called Rosenthal and Collins, and the amount on the clearing

statement was $28 -plus million.

It had a current date on it.

It was on the Rosenthal letterhead.

Bonata asks to keep the statement, but McClain refuses.

And that didn't smell right.

Bonata needs a copy of the document to verify it. He acts quickly.

Besides being a contractor, I'm also a farmer, so it's not unusual to see me in

a pair of bib overalls.

So I'd already taken my cell phone and put it in my bib overalls. I kind of

leaned over and put the document in my lap.

And I just reached up and pressed my button, and I took a picture of it.

This image, taken by Venata's cell phone, is sent to the brokerage house.

The statement is a fake.

McClain has no account at Rosenthal Collins Group.

I mean, that's when I knew.

That's when I knew.

On June 29, 2007, Ron Venata files a lawsuit against Robert W.

McClain. But even as his business crumbles, McLean's golden image is still

intact at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Bob had suggested that, you know, we might accept a resignation from him.

in fact, I remember the conversation very clearly. It was like, gosh, you

that doesn't mean he did anything wrong.

I mean, people sue each other all the time.

So we said, hey, you know, and I remember the chairman saying to me, hey,

know, we stand by our people.

Meanwhile, the filing of several civil suits against McLean triggers a criminal

investigation.

U .S. Postal Inspection agents execute search warrants at McLean's home and

office. I remember thinking this guy was really a heavy hitter. He had...

The notes from friends were well -known entertainers.

There were pictures of check presentations where the checks were

money. The agents are surprised by McLean's client files.

When we looked at the file cabinets and saw how the record -keeping was done, it

was shocking.

There was...

Millions and millions of dollars had been invested here, and they were

on handwritten notes to keep track of all the finances, which was very

surprising. What's more, it seems that McLean's collection of trading terminals

was all for show.

He never made any actual trades.

We also looked to see if there was any kind of equity research or anything that

might... relate to him investing.

And in his office, there was no documentation. There was nothing

he was even doing research on how to invest the money.

By now, McLean's investors realize their savings have evaporated.

Becky Lucensky has invested her father's inheritance, $600 ,000, with McLean.

I will never forget the day that I opened the newspaper and saw McLean was

bankrupt.

I had no clue, and I knew that my life would never be the same.

Retired NFL quarterback Jonathan Quinn believes that he has close to $1 .4

million, his entire net worth, with McClain and company.

He's on vacation with his family when he hears the news.

I'm sitting in a small town in Colorado.

We're looking at little knickknacks.

And I told my wife to stop shopping, you know, because at the time when I found

out, I had $100 in my pocket and maybe $800 in the bank, and that's all I had.

In a subsequent deposition in a civil lawsuit,

McLean's office manager details years of extravagant spending.

He was spending over $5 ,000 weekly in personal expenses, American Express

of $10 ,000 to $20 ,000 a month.

He was spending a lot of money on several different residences.

There was a lot of money going to people who were not employees.

According to the office manager, more than a dozen men received cash for

tuition, rent, medical bills, and entertainment.

Young men that had been students at Middle Tennessee State University, there

not appear to be any kind of employment relationship there. And these were

reasonably significant amounts of money.

The office manager recounts what sounds like Bob's last hurrah.

In May, as the local bank calls in Ron Bonata's loan, precipitating the

of the Ponzi scheme, Bob throws a party, spending $5 ,000 in one night on his

young friends.

It's McClain's version of fiddling while Rome burns.

On July 18th, at the Rutherford County Courthouse, the gallery is packed.

It was full of other attorneys, and it was full of other clients.

And these other people that had been clients of Bob wanted to know what was

going on, and basically there were little old ladies crying in the

Within two weeks, McLean is forced into involuntary bankruptcy.

Records show that from 2002 through 2007, McLean spends $49 million,

essentially everything investors give him.

But at this point, McLean's problems are not only legal and financial.

Bob was threatening to commit suicide shortly after this all came out.

And his brother committed him to a hospital.

To be honest with you, I don't know if that was a ploy to get him out of some

particular hearing or indictment or if he was really sick. I honestly don't

know. Is McLean's distress real?

Next on American Greed, for McClain and his victims, the worst is yet to come.

Why do you see this?

July 2007.

Robert McClain, money manager with the Midas touch, is broke.

Fifty clients are financially ruined.

and McLean himself is hospitalized under suicide watch.

The community is shocked by the fall of its most generous benefactor.

It was a very sad day for the citizens of Rutherford and Bedford County when

someone who was supposed to be this very benevolent philanthropist was in fact a

fraud, a con man.

It's no surprise to law professor Sandra Benson.

She first rang warning bells about McLean and Company more than 10 years

But she understands why many were fooled.

Mr. McLean had a pretty long history of paying the notes on a timely basis.

Investors were getting returns month after month.

He was doing what he promised he would do. He was paying the stated interest

rates. And so you see the enticement of people to roll their notes over or to

keep their money or even to invest more money with Mr. McClain.

McClain is released from the psychiatric hospital and the U .S. Attorney's

Office lays out its criminal case.

If McClain goes to trial, he faces up to 33 years in prison.

On September 25th, Bob McClain drives to Shelbyville.

the town where he was born.

Next to him on the passenger seat is a loaded gun.

He pulls into the deserted parking lot of a church and faces a brick wall.

McLean puts the gun to his head.

It was at 8 o 'clock this morning that the minister found Robert McLean's body

back behind the building.

He had a gunshot wound to the head and police say there was a suicide note.

When I heard of Bob's death and how he died, yes, I had not just a little bit

sorrow, I had a lot of sorrow.

I didn't want it for him.

You know, it wasn't, your life is way more valuable than the money to me.

Even the first mourner is a surprise.

The first person to come to Bob's brother's home to express his

Ronnie Venetta.

No one wanted Bob to take his life. I mean, I don't know of anyone that would

have wanted that.

But for the victims, sadness soon gives way to confusion.

A bankruptcy trustee is in charge of the estate with the power to find and

recover assets.

The fact is, in Ponzi scheme cases, there's typically not a pot of gold out

there somewhere.

that the trustee can recover is in the hands of the victims themselves.

Under state law, the bankruptcy trustee can seize any Ponzi payments made to

investors within the last four years.

The popular term that's being used today is clawback, to show the powers of the

trustee when they can go back and claw back in these transfers that are made to

other people.

The money goes into a pot to be distributed among the victims.

so that all the creditors could benefit from that money and not just the

particular ones who had received the payments from Mr. McClain.

McClain's victims are stuck.

I mean, everybody's been exploited by McClain, and now some of them I

feel like maybe the term would be appropriate, double -debt.

I definitely felt like I was victimized twice.

I felt like you already had it all. I don't know what else you wanted.

Jonathan Quinn scrimped and saved in an effort to avoid becoming a cliché, the

bankrupt former NFL player.

Ironically, that's almost what he becomes, as he barely avoids bankruptcy.

I maxed out my home equity line of credit, ended up having to sell my

ended up having to pay $13 ,000 that I really didn't have to sell my own house.

Many are surprised when the clawback hits McLean's favorite charities, too.

For the Country Music Hall of Fame, McLean's largesse has become liability.

In order to keep the historic Bill Monroe mandolin and Carter family

they settled with the trustee and write a check for $750 ,000.

It's a hardship for us, obviously.

What is very gratifying to us as we sit here today is that

all of these instruments are on display in this museum.

Right now.

Middle Tennessee State University is forced to return $570 ,000 to the

And the name Robert W. McLean is scrubbed from the School of Music.

For non -profits, Robert McLean's story is a cautionary tale.

But in many ways, it is also an unavoidable risk.

If you come into my office and you are engaged and you want to make a gift,

Do I subject you to a lie detector test?

I mean, do I say, really, is your financial situation exactly the way

explaining it to me?

It's going to be a short meeting.

I mean, there is this level of trust that has to exist.

In the end, everyone knows the truth about McLean's business.

But the man himself remains a mystery.

I still think about Bob a lot.

Because here was a guy who seemed to care so deeply about what we were doing

here and seemed to be willing to step up and allow us to do what we're doing

here even better.

It's hard for me to know what was really motivating him.

I don't think you're going to find anybody who would, upon reflection, say

they felt like they got to know Bob.

He had a great love of music. If there's anything redemptive about this whole

issue is that part was really sincere.

Today, Robert McLean's victims say the experience has made them stronger.

As a breast cancer survivor and a McLean survivor, I want to find joys in all of

the little pleasures of life and appreciate the little pleasures of life.

I really don't enjoy sitting here talking and telling my story of my

life and how I screwed up.

Because I do feel like I'm the one to blame.

The reason I talk and the reason I tell the story is because there's plenty of

people out there that might be going through the same thing.

You know, I've kind of just prayed and forgiven Bob.

Life does go on and you move forward.

And you heal, and you look at your priorities a little stronger.

Financially, this devastated my life and my family's life. There's no doubt

about that.

I'm working through it as best I can.

I feel like that my ship is turning around like a carrier in the ocean very,

very slowly.

And I think that every day that I last, it's better for me.

And at the end of the day, whatever happens, I'll accept it and go on. And,

know, all the important things, you know, my family, my health, I still

it'll be okay.

The small town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, gives McLean its trust.

And he betrays it.

But even now, many give him the benefit of the doubt.

Did I have anger? I'm sure all of us did.

I'll bet you're going to find that people...

If you total up the number of comments in the anger category and put the

comments that you would group in the I remember my friendship with Bob, or at

least I remember him as a good guy, they'll far outweigh the anger category.

The town is that special. It really is.