All language subtitles for American Greed s06e03 Nevin Shapiro Major League Fraud.eng

He's dealing with a Category 5
controversy involving cash, payments,

prostitutes. Meet Nevin Shapiro, the man
who kicked off the controversy with

stunning admissions of gifts to players
and broken NCAA rules.

He's a hustler. You can tell he's a
hustler.

A big -time part of the Miami scene,
Shapiro lives a life of tropical

indulgence. South Beach is known for its
nightlife, yet Mr. Shapiro was known as

Mr. Big in South Beach.

He takes in nearly $1 billion with false
promises of huge return.

The truth was there was no business.

It was simply money in, money out.

But the fun can't last forever.

Ponzi schemes don't have happy endings.
They're not designed to have happy

endings.

It's August 2011 in Miami, Florida.

As day dawns on a new football season,
fans of the University of Miami eagerly

await their team's debut.

Miami filmmaker Billy Corbin directed
The U, a documentary about the team.

In Miami, it's safe to say that fans
have been spoiled in that at the start

every new season, we've come to
expect...

that this could be yet another national
championship.

But this year, from the University of
Southern California to Ohio State

University, scandals have tainted
college football.

Little do the Hurricanes' loyal fans
know, the real deluge is about to begin.

It's the University of Miami's worst
nightmare. The damning result of an 11

-month investigation by Yahoo Sports.

In it, convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin
Shapiro claims he gave improper benefits

at least 72 Hurricanes athletes and
seven coaches.

The expose makes Nevin Shapiro a well
-known name among sports fans.

But who is the man who has jeopardized
the future of Miami football?

And how did he steal the millions that
made it all possible?

Shapiro tells American Greed it's a
story that involved greed, usury, fraud,

scandal, and cover -ups.

Ever the pitchman, he says, you need
eight documentaries to fill this story.

Born in April 1969 in Brooklyn, New
York, Nevin Shapiro moves at an early

age to the city he'll make his lifelong
home, Miami, Florida.

It's often said that Miami is a sunny
place for shady people. Really, the

state of Florida is and always has been.

Shapiro is raised by his single mother
and attends Miami Beach High School.

Linda Jackson is an attorney who now
represents some of Shapiro's lenders.

also attended Beach High around the same
time as Shapiro.

There are people there that have a lot
of money, get cars on their 16th

birthday.

Nevin was a small guy.

He didn't come from a family with money,
and he tried to compensate for that.

In Miami Beach, Shapiro tries to prove
himself based on what Jackson says is

town's own formula of success.

It's money and prestige, and nobody
really cares how you got your money.

In the years to come, Shapiro will
flaunt his newfound wealth and prestige

many ways.

But foremost is his association with one
of his oldest interests, sports.

Nevin was a sports fanatic.

Not even kind of. Nevin was a sports
fanatic.

In high school, Shapiro plays basketball
and wrestles, but his real passion is

football.

Growing up in Miami in the 1980s, he
witnesses the rise to dominance of the

Miami Hurricanes.

There's no question in my mind or
anybody in this room's mind who's the

one team in America.

The Miami Hurricanes are the number one
team.

Miami in the 1980s was the outlaw town,
and the University of Miami Hurricanes

had a reputation as the outlaw team.

Even among the Canes' extremely loyal
fan base, Shapiro sticks out.

You definitely couldn't say anything bad
about the Hurricanes. In Evan's face,

in his presence, there would be
problems.

Shapiro attends the University of South
Florida, but never manages to get his

degree in his chosen field, criminology.

He reportedly leaves school after
punching a referee in the face during an

intramural football game.

Investigative reporter Tim Elfrink wrote
about Shapiro for the Miami New Times

newspaper. I don't think it's a stretch
from what I've heard about Nevin to

speculate that he might have some kind
of Napoleon complex going on. I mean, he

always had an explosive temper.

The incident on the field is not the
last time Shapiro's temper will get the

best of him.

In 1995, while trying to sneak 20
friends into a Miami nightclub on his

birthday, Shapiro was stopped by the
owner and goes berserk. I've heard from

people who were there who described it,
just how completely unwarranted it was

and how brutal and bloody it was.

Shapiro punches the club owner so hard
it knocks out part of a front tooth and

destroys his tear duct.

To writer Tim Elfrink, it's a defining
moment for the con man.

He thought he had the power and the
connections to get them in this place.

when he got caught, he just he lashed
out. He lost it.

In the years to come, Shapiro will
ensure he has the wealth to afford him

into any club in Miami Beach. You know,
when Shapiro shows up, he walks right

into the nightclub and gets the best
table.

And there it is. You know, that's what
it's about.

Getting there is still a few years off.

Shapiro first dips his toes into the
world of exclusivity when his mother

marries a man named Richard Armand Adam.

Adam eventually moves the family to a
Tony mansion and has a yacht. But he

has a secret.

The first time he experienced real
wealth and this real change in living,

through a pretty sophisticated white
-collar crime.

Adam will later serve time for running a
complicated multi -million dollar

lending fraud.

As events will show, Shapiro fails to
learn the lesson that crime doesn't pay.

It's hard to believe he didn't learn
something from Adam or at least get some

idea of how this might work.

When Shapiro leaves college, he begins
work at a grocery diverting company

called Atlantic Wholesale in 1993.

Diverting involves purchasing already
sold products at a low price in one

then reselling them somewhere else at a
profit.

Kay Balby works with Shapiro on the
sales floor at Atlantic.

Well, he had this cute little innocent
face, but there was this power behind

him. It was almost like he was bigger
than life.

He reminded me of maybe Doogie Howser
and Arnold Schwarzenegger wrapped into

one. From the outset, Shapiro already
seems to have his sights set high.

He just always looked like, you know, he
was ready to close a deal. He was cocky

and confident at the same time.

When making a sale, Shapiro has more
than just good deals to offer.

He was a statistical genius in terms of
sports.

He could start talking sports right away
and instantly connect with that person

on the other end of the phone.

If his home life is tainted by fraud, so
is the profession he finds himself in.

In 1996, 36 people working for another
South Florida diverter, Premium Sales,

are charged with running a massive
investment scheme.

Michael Goldberg is a Fort Lauderdale
lawyer who represents some of Shapiro's

victims. He's an expert on Ponzi
schemes.

I can't imagine anyone could be in the
diverting industry that did not know of

premium sales because it was one of the
largest Ponzi schemes of its time.

It's not long before Shapiro is running
a scheme that follows closely in premium

sales nefarious footsteps.

Thanks to our real lack of institutional
memory in Miami, Nevin Shapiro was

literally able to pick up that scam
where they left off several years later.

Nevin Shapiro grows up amidst the wealth
and decadence of Miami in the 1980s and

90s. At home and at work, fraud is never
far away.

And when it comes time to start his own
scheme, it seems like he's in the

perfect place.

Miami is not an old money kind of a
town. It's not like New England. It's a

place where people can come in with a
name that no one knows and a lot of

and throw it around and they're
instantly accepted by society at large.

After leaving college, Shapiro heads
home to Miami and enters the grocery

diverting business in 1993.

Five years later, he opens his own
diverting company, Capital Investments

The company purportedly buys low -priced
groceries in one market, then ships

them elsewhere to be sold at a profit.

Paul Fishman is the United States
Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

There's an opportunity in that line of
work, as in others, for somebody who is

savvy businessman or businesswoman to
make a pretty decent profit on the

between what they can buy stuff for and
what they can sell it for.

Shapiro pitches capital investments as
an international diverter.

There's big money to be made in overseas
deals, he says, but to get at the

profits, he needs investor financing.

It's a very simple story to tell the
investor, something they can easily

understand. for short -term bridge
loans.

The key was to offer not only the high
rate of return, which was attractive,

that they also would turn around the
investment very quickly. So it gave the

impression that not only was there big
money to be made, but it was also fast

money. With the return Shapiro is
offering, investors and their money come

rolling in.

Some lenders Shapiro brings in himself
through connections in Miami.

Others... including those who will
eventually go to the Federal Bureau of

Investigation, hail from New Jersey.

But the lion's share comes to him via
Naples, Florida.

Nevin Shapiro went to Naples for the
same reason that Bernie Madoff went to

Beach and Willie Sutton robbed banks,
because that's where the money is.

Situated on Florida's Gulf Coast, Naples
is a migratory zone for Midwestern

snowbirds looking for a warm place to
spend their retirement.

The picturesque town lies a two -hour
drive across Alligator Alley from Miami.

But it might as well be a million miles
away.

I think if you were to take a photograph
of the city of Miami and then look at

the negative, it would look a lot like
Naples.

With a distinctly Latin flair, Miami is
young and flashy.

Naples, on the other hand, is filled
with retirees and has a decidedly

-down country club feel.

An abundance of investment firms line
Naples' main track, competing to help

wealthy retirees grow their nest eggs.

Shapiro wants in on the action.

But far from home and very out of his
element, he needs an inside man to pitch

capital investments.

The story told itself well, but I don't
think that the flash of Miami Beach

would sell too well in Naples directly.

Shapiro wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes.

with the Naples community.

In 2003, he meets the man who will grant
him entree into this world of

affluence, Sidney Jack Williams.

Jack was one of the Naples people.

He was their neighbor. He played golf
with them. He belonged to the same

club. He knew them and he was embedded
in that community.

Williams is a successful real estate
investor who hails from Indianapolis,

Indiana.

On his company's website, he boasts of
doing real estate deals across the

country worth more than a billion
dollars.

By the end of 2003, he's invested $3 .5
million with Shapiro.

It's not long before he becomes capital
investment's main pitch man.

Jack's neighbors saw him driving fancy
cars and living a very nice lifestyle.

And when he told the story of how he was
doing it, making money on this

diverting operation in Miami, it
attracted his neighbors who wanted in on

great investment.

Many of the investors Williams brings in
live in and around Indianapolis.

Some are fraternity brothers from his
days at Ball State University in Muncie,

Indiana. People considered him their
friend. They trusted him. It was not

calling Smith Barney and saying, I want
to buy a stock.

These are informal deals. They're pretty
much done in the clubhouse after a

round of golf.

Williams says that an investment in
Shapiro's diversion deals is a, quote,

-brainer. In some cases, he offers a
personal guarantee.

In all, he brings in 60 investors and
$307 million.

In emails to Shapiro, he refers to
himself as the Bank of Naples.

And like a bank, Williams charges fees.

His friends don't know he's paid for
everyone he brings in and eventually

pockets $12 million in commissions.

If Williams brings lenders in, Shapiro
knows just how to keep them happy.

And by 2004, the need to do just that is
growing.

That year, Capital Investments begins
operating in a loss.

Just why remains uncertain.

Shapiro's lawyer claims that around this
time, her client begins sinking money

into a business deal that goes bad.

Shapiro tells American Greed, I got
robbed myself for $25 million, which

my derailment.

I really don't know of a Ponzi scheme
operator that actually just says, I'm

going into it for the Ponzi.

They get behind and they just can't
admit.

that they're messing up, and they double
down. And then they lose on that double

down, and it's over.

In order to hide his losses, Shapiro
needs to bring in more and more new

investors to pay off the old investors.

And it seems he knows just how to do it.
He was a charismatic guy.

He could deliver a sales pitch, you
know, and he could definitely reassure

that your money was safe.

Shapiro assures investors that putting
their money in capital investments is

risk -free.

And if his words aren't enough, he has
plenty of documentation to prove it.

There was a lot of paper, serious paper,
legitimate -looking paper, that

suggested that this business was not
only real but extraordinarily

But it's all fake.

Making up financial statements nowadays
is not an awful lot harder than a click

of a mouse.

Shapiro has his accountant and his CFO,
a father and son team made up of

Alejandro and Roberto Torres, help him
create these false documents.

They put together multiple invoices
showing purported deals between Capital

Investments and other companies that
investor dollars are supposedly

Tax filings claim that Capital
Investments has gross sales in 2006 of

million.

That was $54 million more in sales than
he actually had.

The real number is zero.

From 2005 through the end of 2009,
capital investments does no real

But in Naples and elsewhere, that
doesn't keep lenders from receiving

believe to be interest payments.

The interest was not interest at all.
The money that was being paid to

was actually money from other investors.

It was simply money in, money out.

Capital investments is a Ponzi scheme,
plain and simple. In all, Shapiro will

raise more than $930 million in investor
funds.

It's 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, and
Nevin Shapiro's grocery diverting scam

in full swing.

From nearby Naples to Indianapolis,
Indiana, there's no shortage of people

want in on his so -called grocery
diverting deal.

His lenders are happy. From what I'm
told, they got their money to the day,

the minute, on time.

Investors who are getting paid off are
satisfied investors, and satisfied

investors generally don't complain.

Investors aren't the only people making
money at Capital Investments USA.

He was diverting just enough of that
incoming money to satisfy the demands of

his investors. Otherwise, he was using
it just for his own personal use.

Shapiro's take eventually adds up to a
cool $35 million.

And he's not afraid to spend it.

South Beach is known for its nightlife,
yet Mr. Shapiro was known as Mr. Big in

South Beach.

The lifestyle that he was leading was
pretty open and notoriously glamorous.

At the center of that lifestyle, it's
the perfect place to entertain.

You came in, you and you were his guest.
You can pretty much have whatever you

wanted, you know, tons and tons of
beautiful women.

Like it was like utopia.

Outside the mansion, Shapiro parks a
Mercedes S65 AMG on which he makes a

monthly payment of forty seven hundred
dollars.

And I have to admit that when I actually
saw that in the draft charging

documents, I thought it was a mistake
because I didn't know you could lease a

car for forty seven hundred dollars a
month.

On the weekend, there's a doc that's
just right for tying up his 58 -foot, $1

million yacht.

He was almost living the stereotype of
Miami Wells, the rich playboy in South

Beach that, you know, maybe goes all the
way back to Miami Vice.

The same year he buys his mansion,
Shapiro also picks up a condo in the

He invests $7 million in a North
Carolina golf course.

and he blows through cash like a man
obsessed.

He pays credit card bills for himself,
his mother, and his girlfriend that

amount to more than $2 .2 million.

On top of this, he shells out more than
$100 ,000 a year for courtside seats to

watch the Miami Heat.

It's here that he sits near the team's
resident entertainer, DJ Irie, and rubs

elbows with Miami's A -list.

Prominent business people, politicians,

You name it. He would usually know who's
around him and say what's up. And if he

didn't, by the end of the game, he knew
them.

A world -renowned turntablist, DJ Ivory
is a fixture on the South Beach

nightlife scene.

On the left here is Mansion Nightclub,
where they just do these huge, massive

celebrity jumping parties.

Singers, rappers, actors, actresses.

huge sports figures, you name it.

Nevin would actually come to Mansion.

At one point, he was there almost every
weekend.

He'd have one of the best areas in the
club. No matter what club he went to,

he'd have one of the best areas because
the clubs all knew that when Nevin was

there, he was going to spend money.

Nevin had achieved unparalleled access.

He had the kind of access that not many
other people had.

Shapiro also obtains access to the A
-list celebrities that not many other

people meet.

It's reported that he entertains Miami
Heat star Dwayne Wade on his yacht.

He also has a picture of Shaquille O
'Neal holding him above his head and

reportedly gives the Heat star player a
pair of diamond -encrusted handcuffs as

a gift.

Not quite 40, Shapiro has the keys to
the kingdom.

He's the American dream.

You know, he's made it. He's enjoying
the finer things in life. And he's

it with the people that he cares about.

One recipient of Shapiro's largesse is
the athletics program at his beloved

University of Miami.

Inside the Hecht Athletic Center, the
con artist gets his name on the Nevin

Shapiro Student Athlete Lounge.

He becomes a golden cane and gives $130
,000 to the school's athletics program.

Documentary filmmaker Billy Corbin reads
from the inscription on a plaque that

once hung inside.

Despite the fact that he attended
college outside of Miami, his heart has

bled green and orange.

For the tremendous philanthropic support
he provides, the University of Miami is

proud to name the Student Athlete Lounge
after Nevin Shapiro.

What kind of message does that send, not
only to the student athletes, but the

athletic director, the head coaches, the
assistant coaches, about the kind of

access that this man has bought and has
been granted.

Shapiro's philanthropy is on display in
one famous picture of the school's

president, Donna Shalala, accepting a
$50 ,000 check from him.

The old saying is, as long as the
champagne is flowing and the checks are

clearing, nobody asks any questions.

But Shapiro's checks come with a price.

He was someone who felt like that his
contributions to the university gave him

the right to have a lot of control and
be able to associate with whoever and

whenever he wanted.

It's not until his Ponzi scheme unravels
that the depth of his association with

Miami's athletes and coaches is
revealed.

For now, though, potential investors see
Shapiro as the embodiment of success.

They see that you're living a high life,
that you seem to be successful, and

they start to equate that with the
credibility of the investment itself.

Amidst all the flaunting, there is one
way Shapiro spends money that the public

doesn't see.

He liked to bet, and he didn't do all
that well.

My sources, who were pretty close to
Nevin, told me that most weekends he

bet $25 ,000 apiece on several different
games, and sometimes more than that.

Shapiro's own lawyer will later tally
his gambling losses at $9 million.

That may have been fueling the scheme,
too, just this constant need for new

to keep paying his debts and keep
gambling.

Despite his less -than -stellar track
record...

Shapiro will later say some investors
look to him for betting tips.

And why not? He seems to be a guy who
can't lose.

In 2008, money from investors is
flooding into Shapiro's company and

straight back out as supposed interest
payments.

That year, he moves a whopping $616
million into and out of Capital

bank account.

He says that when his accountant sees
the numbers, she responds with three

simple words.

What the?

It's the end of 2008.

Across the country, financial tides are
turning.

And the biggest Ponzi scheme ever is
revealed.

Welcome back. It is official. The U .S.
economy is. The word is that the street

remains at this moment shell -shocked.
You have a lot of wealthy investors who

thought they had $50 million in net
worth. Most of it was made up. They wake

today to realize they had no money.

For Miami's Nevin Shapiro, the end is
drawing near.

People are starting to question, well,
if the economy is collapsing, how can my

investment be doing well?

When the economy goes bad, when credit
is harder to get, when people have less

money to spend, Ponzi schemes tend to
fall apart faster because it's harder

the people who are perpetrating them to
maintain the facade.

As the financial system implodes,
questions arise.

And Shapiro does not have the money to
pay his lenders.

He is, in part, a victim of his own
lavish lifestyle.

He was so heavily leveraged and was
spending the money so fast that only one

investor who said, hey, give me my money
back right now, caused this to start to

unravel.

At first, Shapiro falls behind in making
so -called interest payments.

As 2008 turns into 2009, investors begin
to ask questions, and Shapiro offers a

litany of excuses.

His accountant was on vacation and he
couldn't get... The paperwork done.

It was a bookkeeping error, and they'd
send the check right out. We didn't get

paid from the company that was supposed
to pay us for the delivery of goods.

People heard different things at
different times.

Shapiro's smooth talking works
temporarily, and lenders allow him to

payments. The con man uses the time he
buys to try to find new money, but no

is willing to pony up.

He just stopped being able to pay off
his investors, and eventually investors

started to complain.

From Naples to Indianapolis, investors
start to wonder if their money is tied

in a Ponzi scheme.

When they ask Shapiro for their money
back, they're met with more stalling.

By June, legal threats are heading
Shapiro's way.

The man at the helm of capital
investments starts making desperate

In July, he begins selling off jewelry.

The next month, he gives one investor
the keys to his condo in the Bahamas.

But nothing can stave off the
inevitable.

The problem with the Ponzi scheme is
there's really not an exit strategy.

Eventually, it has to come to a halt.

In November 2009, a group of lenders
filed papers in Miami, forcing Shapiro's

company into bankruptcy.

In the words of the trustee, the capital
investment scheme comes to a screeching

halt.

Eventually, creditors will claim that
Shapiro owes them more than $120

By now, though, his problems extend far
beyond the question of how to pay

creditors back.

Prior to the bankruptcy, an unidentified
investor from New Jersey goes to the

FBI in Newark, saying he's lost $500
,000.

Word started to spread among investors
with capital investments that the FBI

Newark were conducting an investigation.

So very quickly, it went from a $500
,000 loss to almost a $32 million loss.

Agents from the FBI, led by Michael
Ward, and the IRS Criminal Investigation

Division, led by Victor Lesov, get to
work.

He was just saying, invest this in the
deal. Yeah, you made 17%. How do you

to reinvest it and do it again? And many
of them worked. They dig into the reams

of paper backing up Shapiro's claims
that capital investments was a going

concern.

A key piece of evidence comes in the
form of invoices.

that Shapiro created with his CFO and
accountant's father and son, Roberto and

Alejandro Torres.

Capital Investments apparently created a
false invoice with a real company's

name on it.

We were able to take those invoices back
to that company, interview them, and

corroborate that this, in fact, is a
false invoice.

We look at one false invoice, that gives
us a rise to question whether or not

there are other false invoices.

And as the investigation continued,
that's exactly what we found.

found that there was no ongoing business
concern associated with capital

investments.

Shapiro's financial house of cards is
about to come tumbling down.

I believe the first person that was
interviewed was Roberto Torres, the

financial officer, who immediately
admitted that there is no legitimate

going on here.

And in each subsequent interview we
would do after that, we would receive

same story.

Eventually, agents questioned the man at
the top of capital investments, Nevin

Shapiro.

After running the company for more than
a decade, it seems that he's grown tired

of spinning lies and deceit. At the
first interview with Nevin Shapiro, he

admitted that there was no legitimate
business associated with capital

investments.

In April 2010, the Miami businessman
surrenders to FBI and IRS agents in

He's charged with securities fraud and
money laundering.

On April 21st, he makes his first
appearance in court.

Mr. Shapiro, we're here today for an
initial appearance.

Can the government kindly advise the
defendant what he's charged with and the

potential penalties he faces?

Yes, Your Honor. The defendant is
charged with a two -count complaint

alleges a broad -based scheme to defraud
numerous investors of approximately

$880 million.

So do I understand what you're charged
with and the potential penalties that

face?

Yes. Okay.

Though he does not sound happy to find
himself before a judge, Shapiro

reportedly tells his attorney he's glad
the scheme has come to an end.

Months later, he pleads guilty to one
count of securities fraud and one count

money laundering.

Shapiro admits to running the massive
Ponzi scheme and using the scam to fund

his big shot lifestyle.

He also admits that he used investor
money to give student athletes cash and

jewelry and feted them in Miami
restaurants and clubs.

Supporters of the Miami Hurricanes worry
about the repercussions of Shapiro's

admissions. At the fan, they were very
depressing because no one knew

what the ultimate consequence could be
of this.

When American Greed returns, feeling
alone and forsaken, Shapiro tells all in

attempt to bring down the Miami
hurricane.

At the end of the day, if things aren't
going his way, if through everything, I

don't care. You know, it's about me.

In September 2010,

Nevin Shapiro pleads guilty in New
Jersey to running a massive Ponzi

Nine months later, he returns to court
for sentencing.

In arguing for leniency, his lawyer asks
the judge to consider that her client

has an immense gambling problem.

She also claims that Shapiro perpetrated
his fraud to keep capital investments

afloat after losing millions in a deal
gone bad.

The judge doesn't buy it.

People get into debt in all sorts of
ways, and there are lots of legal and

responsible ways for people to deal with
that. It is not an excuse.

if you're in debt for whatever reason,
to go out and rip people off to the tune

here of $80 or $90 million.

The judge sentences Shapiro to 20 years
in prison and orders him to pay $82

million in restitution.

To this day, Shapiro's level of
contrition is questionable.

In emails to American Greed, he says
that sometimes you are forced to plead

guilty on something that you don't
believe you are guilty of.

But Shapiro's story doesn't end there.

The con man's life has undergone a
massive change.

He once inhabited a palatial mansion and
sat courtside at heat games.

Now he makes his home in a small cell
where game time seating options are

limited.

Inside, there's plenty of time to sit
and think.

You have to remember, prison is a really
lonely and depressing place, especially

for the type of personality that Nevin
Shapiro is.

Here's someone who spent a lot of money,
lavish gifts on individuals, and then

when he thought that, okay, now that I'm
in trouble, I need you to step up and

help me, when these people failed to do
that, I do think that it had an impact

on him.

Facing 20 years, Shapiro begins to seek
revenge on those he once considered to

be his friends.

His most intense ire is reserved for his
once beloved University of Miami.

In August 2011, the bomb the Hurricanes
football fans feared finally drops.

The mighty Miami Hurricanes dealing with
a Category 5 controversy involving

cash, payments, and prostitutes that
threatens to bring down the team.

Yahoo Sports conducts a massive eight
-month investigation into alleged NCAA

violations involving Shapiro and the
University of Miami.

Shapiro tells reporter Charles Robinson
that over the course of eight years,

he's provided 72 college athletes,
mostly from Miami, with benefits that

violated NCAA rules.

He claims he's provided them with cash,
meals, clothes, and jewelry. He says

he's partied with them at his mansion,
on his yacht, and in nightclubs and

joints. He even says he's provided
prostitutes for players and in one case

for an abortion.

What's more, he accuses members of the
school's athletic staff with complicity.

Back in Miami, the story drops with a
thud.

That's even louder than the original
story of his massive Ponzi scheme.

This was the guy that was just always so
cool, you know, and always just a

really nice guy to me. Like, when that
story broke, I was just disgusted.

I was absolutely disgusted.

Some Hurricanes fans, like Billy Corbin,
choose to downplay the report.

Corbin says Shapiro's photos prove
nothing.

It appeared to me that the Yahoo Sports
writers did a 11 -month extensive

investigation of University of Miami
students' Facebook pictures.

But Yahoo says they've corroborated
Shapiro's claims with other sources, as

as reams of phone and financial records.

From what I saw, they did their
homework, you know. I don't think they

Nevin was telling them at face value.

Still, many ask, why trust a con man?

I don't think you should draw the
conclusion that simply because someone

convicted felon, he or she shouldn't be
believed.

Weeks after the story breaks, the NCAA
suspends eight players for taking gifts

from Shapiro.

The University of Miami says in a
statement it is fully cooperating with

NCAA and is conducting a joint
investigation.

Michael Ward of the FBI sees the players
Shapiro courted not so much as co

-conspirators but as victims.

Nevin Shapiro is a manipulator. I mean,
he was able to seduce investors with a

promise of large dollar amounts.

And then he turns those same seduction
techniques and he turns them on to 18,

19, 20 year olds offering them gifts and
parties and sex. And I mean, those are

tools of seduction that have been used
going back centuries.

For reporter Tim Elfring.

Shapiro's desire for revenge harkens
back to an earlier episode in his life.

I go back to that incident when he was a
young man in South Beach and soccer

punched this club owner. You know, I
think his instinct was to worm his way

as a power player as best he could. And
when things went wrong, he lashed out.

Shapiro himself says the story isn't
over.

He tells American Greed that the
incident with the University of Miami

become, quote, an urban legend by the
time it all shakes out.

When American Greed returns, investors
wait it out to see if they'll get any of

their money back.

Yet people in their 60s and 70s are now
moving in with their children because

they can no longer afford their home.

In the summer of 2011, Devin Shapiro was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.

for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

Shapiro admits that the company he
started in 1998, Capital Investment USA,

no real business between 2005 and 2009.

But when did his fraud actually start?

Shapiro tells American Greed that he was
loaded legitimately and that he made a

lot of people a lot of money.

But according to the FBI's Michael Ward,
from the outset, fraud is hardwired

into the DNA of Shapiro's business
operations.

Now there were periods of time where
there was some legitimate business being

conducted, but it was not a viable
business opportunity in that they were

out returns to investors that far
exceeded the legitimate business income

could be generated.

In 2011, Shapiro's accountant and his
CFO, a father and son named Alejandro

Roberto Torres, also plead guilty to one
count each of securities fraud.

They are both sentenced to four years in
prison.

Then, in September 2011,

Sidney Jack Williams pleads guilty to
filing a false tax return.

He admits he failed to declare $6 .4
million in commissions Shapiro paid him

signing up investors.

He's sentenced to a year in prison.

To this day, no one can say just how
much Williams, who had his own money

invested in the scam, knew about the
Ponzi.

It's hard to believe that he did not
know that it was a Ponzi scheme at some

point. I don't necessarily know that he
knew it was a Ponzi scheme.

Could he have put his head in the sand?

Sure. For many, the con has taken a
heavy toll.

You have people in their 60s and 70s who
are now moving in with their children

because they can no longer afford their
homes.

They're retired.

They're ready to...

live out their years out there and
they're now they're destitute they're

people um are out 82 million dollars and
that's money that they may never get

back one investor in indiana writes the
bankruptcy judge saying he lost his life

savings 190 000 he says he's now sick
broke and facing

foreclosure the bankruptcy trustee
continues his attempt to get back money

this victim and others.

So far, he's recovered $19 million,
including $130 ,000 that Shapiro donated

the University of Miami.

In addition, the university has also
agreed to pay back $83 ,000 for money

Shapiro gave directly to current and
former athletes.

The challenge of recovering more
continues.

The trouble is compounded by the playboy
lifestyle on which Shapiro lavishly

spent his money.

you can't retrieve money spent at strip
clubs. So those are just lost assets.

Meanwhile, the NCAA continues to
investigate Shapiro's involvement with

University of Miami.

The con man sits in a cell in Louisiana.

To those who were taken by Shapiro, a
question remains.

Why did the fraudster do what he did?

If I had to boil it down into one word,
I believe that Devin Shapiro's primary

motivation was greed.

I think he was the kind of guy that was
ultimately probably more interested in

power and prestige than he was in the
money. And I don't know what motivated

him, but in the end, whatever risks he
decided to run, whatever calculations he

decided to make, turned out to be a
really bad bet for him.

In Miami Beach, Shapiro's wealth and
free spending once opened every door.

But after the scam and the Yahoo Sports
investigation through which Shapiro

attempted to bring down the U, the con
man, is no longer king.

In the core of Nevin Shapiro, he's
someone that looks out for himself.

And at the end of the day, if things
aren't going his way, it's screw

everything.

I don't care. It's about me, you know?
And that's not the Nevin that I thought

knew.

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