All language subtitles for American Greed s06e09 William Erpenbeck Real Estate Home Wrecker.eng

Home building giant Bill Erpenbeck
promises he can put you in your dream

We looked at every model home, and then
when we found this one, of course, this

is perfect.

But when he diverts $34 million worth of
mortgage payments into his company's

bank account, the dreams become
nightmares.

When you bring it down to just its
basics, it's just pure stupidity. It's

debt. So when hundreds of homebuyers are
left in danger of losing their homes,

don't expect any of them to shed a tear
for Bill Erpenbeck.

I can't imagine the fear that all of
them had. I realize that that's my

responsibility.

In October 2009, six FBI agents take
shovels to this country club golf course

a plush northern Kentucky suburb.

46 paces off the third tee, they've been
told, lies a buried treasure.

It's about 46 paces. It's right in front
of this tree.

FBI Special Agent Kevin Gormley has just
returned after being summoned to a

federal prison in Coleman, Florida by
renowned home builder and convicted scam

artist Bill Erpenbeck.

He's hoping to get a reduction in his
prison sentence.

Erpenbeck tells Gormley that he wants to
come clean about money he had stashed

away in 2002 while being investigated
for a $34 million fraud.

Bill said he wanted to be able to start
his life over once he gets out of

prison. At that time, he was thinking of
only going to prison for a couple of

years.

Erpenbeck's story leads Gormley to the
Summit Hills Country Club, where Gormley

thinks pay dirt is just moments away.

But after five hours of digging without
success, it appears to some of Gormley's

fellow agents that this fantastic story
is just that, a fantasy.

I was getting a lot of harassment as
each hour passed.

that we weren't going to find it, of
course, but I was confident we weren't

going to leave until we found it.

Bill Erpenbeck's promise of buried
treasure is all that's left after nearly

decade of lies and theft.

It's a scam that has sent seven people
to prison and taken an estimated $69

million from homebuyers, banks, and
building contractors in Cincinnati and

Kentucky.

But as former golfing buddy and next
-door neighbor Glenn Fagan attests, it

didn't start that way.

Bill Erpenbeck's fraud begins with an
air of success.

Bill Erpenbeck had a gift, and his gift
was to persuade you that not only

are you going to do business with him,
but it's the best thing you've ever done

in your life.

The Erpenbeck family has been building
trust along with homes for decades.

Bill's grandfather was named 1965 Home
Builder of the Year by the Home Builders

Association of Northern Kentucky.

And Bill's father, Tony, followed in the
same footsteps, slowly amassing his own

reputation one house at a time.

You would expect Tony Erpenbeck not only
to build your house, but maybe get on

the bulldozer and grade the yard when he
was finished. He's just the most...

Down to earth, salt of the earth guy. We
always used to joke that he's, you

know, the millionaire that drives the,
you know, Chevette.

But Chevettes are far too modest for the
grandson, Bill Erpenbeck. He has much

bigger plans.

I think he wanted to go from obscurity
to the number one home builder

in northern Kentucky.

Bill Erpenbeck wants to bring the
Erpenbeck name into the modern age.

It's no longer going to be a family that
builds one house at a time. The

Erpenbeck Company begins building entire
subdivisions and condominium projects.

And with a great deal of success.

By 2002, the Erpenbeck Company has built
hundreds of homes.

And it's raking in nearly $100 million a
year.

And as a marked contrast from his
father's frugality, Bill Erpenbeck now

million -dollar house and a fancy car.
It presents the image that the Erpenbeck

company is on top of the world.

He was the third largest builder in
greater Cincinnati at the time. He came

recommended by a lot of people in the
community, including my employer.

Linda Harlow buys an Erpenbeck home in
October of 2000.

and quickly befriends one of her
neighbors across the street, who happens

an Urban Beck Company employee.

One evening in April of 2002, however,
that neighbor wants to have a talk.

She asked if she could come to my house
that evening and speak with me, and I

said, well, of course you can. You come
across the street every evening to talk

to me, and she said, no, this is more
serious.

Harlow's friend has inside information
about shady dealings going on within the

Erpenbeck company and feels obligated to
tell Harlow that there's a problem with

her house.

She proceeded to tell me that my house
had multiple mortgages on it. And I

why would that be the case? I had
already paid for my house. I had a

paid and my lender delivered the payment
for my house.

When Harlow takes out a mortgage to buy
her home, she expects her mortgage

company to ensure that a check from the
closing is delivered to Erpenbeck's

lender. The check is intended to pay off
the entire mortgage Erpenbeck took out

to build the home in the first place.

Unfortunately, that's not what happens.

Thanks to Erpenbeck's closing agent,
Michelle Marksberry.

Michelle Marksbury at our closing asked
if she could carry the check over to the

construction lender because it would
save one day of interest.

It seems like a reasonable request at
the time. But looking back to that day,

Harlow remembers something suspicious.

It was Halloween, October 31st, 2000.

And I recall Michelle saying that as
soon as she left the closing, she needed

hurry home and dress her daughter.

for trick -or -treat. And then she
caught herself and said, I mean, as soon

go and deliver this check to the bank.

It's a revealing slip of the tongue.

Marks Perry has no intention of
delivering the check to the construction

to pay off Erpenbeck's original
mortgage.

She's putting it straight into the
Erpenbeck company checking account.

And with Erpenbeck's mortgage still
open, it means that Harlow's house now

two mortgages on it, hers and Bill
Erpenbeck's.

For Harlow, the situation is appalling.
She could dutifully pay her mortgage for

30 years and still face the threat of
Erpenbeck's lender taking her home.

They would be able to foreclose even
though I had bought and paid for my

and had been living there.

But for Erpenbeck... Walking out of the
closing with a check not payable to him

is the easy part.

For the scam to actually pay off,
Erpenbeck needs to be able to deposit

Harlow asks her friend the obvious
question.

If I can't deposit a check that isn't
payable to me, why would Erpenbeck be

to take a check away from a closing
table, payable to another bank, and

that to their own bank account?

And she said, the bank isn't just the
bank, the bank is people.

Look for a reason that the people in
authority at the bank would allow that

happen.

For homebuyers like Linda Harlow, who
bought her home from the Erpenbeck

in the fall of 2000, it means that
Erpenbeck's original mortgage hasn't

paid off, and his lender still has a
lien on her home.

And Harlow isn't alone.

As the FBI and U .S. Attorney's Office
later find out, Erpenbeck has pulled

scam more than 250 times over the
previous three years for $34 million.

And homebuyers aren't the only ones left
in the dark.

Erpenbeck manages to keep his lenders
from asking questions as well.

And the effort included continuing to
pay interest to the construction lenders

on the loans so that they would be less
likely to become aware that they should

have been paid out of the closings.

With Erpenbeck still making monthly
payments, his lenders don't know the

properties have been sold and simply
keep the mortgages active.

For Erpenbeck to benefit from the scam,
he needs help depositing checks not made

out to him.

And he knows just the place to find it.

The evidence developed by the FBI was
that John Finnan, who was the president

People's Bank of Northern Kentucky, and
Mark Manning, its vice president,

colluded with Bill Erpenbeck to accept
those deposits into the Erpenbeck

at the bank.

Erpenbeck has held his company's bank
account at People's Bank for years, long

enough, in fact, that his relationship
with the bankers extends beyond that of

typical banker and client.

One of the bankers lived on our street.

We golfed together every Sunday. I
thought John Fennin and Bill Erpenbeck

as good as friends as Bill and I were.

But being in tight with Bill Erpenbeck
is playing with fire.

In February 2001, they are confronted
with the fact that Erpenbeck's account

their bank is overdrawn by $6 million.

It's a surprising revelation from a
company that is one of the largest home

builders in the region.

Until that is, you look into Bill
Erpenbeck's lifestyle.

As things started progressing,

Bill's appetite for the limelight got
bigger and his appetite for the finer

things in life got bigger.

He had a couple motorcycles, two golf
carts, one was a Mercedes golf cart.

The golf carts had televisions on them.
There was probably double digits in

televisions in that home.

He had the built -in movie theater
with...

20 Barca loungers that were tiered up
and a racing center for those cars that

you would race against each other.

There wasn't much you couldn't do down
in that basement.

And then that all led out to the pool
that, you know, honestly, at the time,

pool was probably one of the nicest
pools I've ever seen. I mean, it had a

I mean, people had a pool with a cave in
their backyard.

By 2001, the money coming in can't keep
up with the money going out.

But Urban Beck has a plan.

As former Kentucky Post reporter Bob
Driehaus explains, Erpenbeck persuades

two good friends, John Finnan and Mark
Menne, to have People's Bank lend him

$6 million he's overdrawn on his
account.

It was another great sales job. He said,
hey, look, we've got a lot of homes

coming online.

We're just in a cash crunch at the
moment, and I just need you to cover me

these millions of dollars in overdrafts.

Fennin and many sneak around the board
of directors at People's Bank to give

Erpenbeck the money.

But in no time, they find themselves
sliding down a slippery slope.

Assistant U .S. Attorney E .J. Walburn
later prosecutes Fennin and many for

their participation in the fraud.

I think that probably they panic more
and more.

We're into him six million. What do we
do? The only way we're ever going to get

out of this hole is to get him more
money.

It's how $6 million problems turn into
$34 million frauds, and it grows from

there.

Fennin and many reach out to other
Kentucky banks and illegally mislead

into lending Erpenbeck another $29
million.

They were representing that the
Erpenbeck company was healthy when, in

was a bottomless pit.

Then there's the most destructive act.

Their bank allows Erpenbeck to take
nearly 200 checks that aren't made out

him. And instead of using them to pay
off his construction mortgages, he

deposits them into his own bank account,
leaving hundreds of homebuyers in the

same situation as Linda Harlow, facing
the threat of losing their homes.

John and Mark are both honorable men.
And I still believe that to this day, I

think what happened is that you have
John and Mark.

trying to make this thing go.

And maybe it'll turn itself around and
everybody will be made whole and we'll

move forward. But the company was
spiraling out of control.

So out of control, in fact, that by
April of 2002, the stolen deposits and

-gotten loans have ballooned into a $69
million fraud.

When American Greed returns.

If his banker friends are hoping for a
turnaround, Bill Erpenbeck may be a lost

cause. You start looking back going,
well, yeah, the guy was vacationing 20

weeks out of the year. You know, the guy
was at the bar every night drinking.

You know, who was running this empire if
he was doing all this?

In the spring of 2002, home building
giant Bill Erpenbeck is the mastermind

$69 million fraud.

being perpetrated in Cincinnati and
Kentucky.

Among the victims are more than 250
homebuyers, more than 40 title

and 40 banks.

But remarkably, despite siphoning $69
million of other people's money into his

bank account, Erpenbeck can't keep the
company afloat.

The bricklayers, electricians, and
carpenters who build the houses start to

notice the company's cash flow problems
in 2001.

And the urban bank companies were first
slow to pay their subcontractors and

then just stopped paying them.

And when they start going after
homebuyers to collect what they're owed,

fraud breaks wide open.

Charles and Sherry Mitchell buy their
three -bedroom Urban Beck home in

Independence, Kentucky in 2001.

We went to every builder, looked at
every model home. We went to all the

fests. And then when we found this one,
of course, this is perfect.

But just months after moving in, the
Mitchells receive the world's worst

housewarming gift.

Two liens filed against their home by
frustrated subcontractors.

It seems they were hired but never paid
by Bill Urbanbeck.

One of the liens is for only $100, but
the other is for more than $22 ,000.

I thought it was a joke, and I told him,
oh, that can't happen. I didn't believe

it, but we found out it was, you know,
true.

For the Mitchells, the situation is
dire.

With liens filed against their home, it
could be foreclosed upon through no

fault of their own.

It's an unthinkable result.

All the money that we had, we put in to
just getting in this house.

We were spent out.

Charles Mitchell calls Bill Erpenbeck
personally to resolve the liens.

I called him, and I talked to him
briefly over the phone, and he said it

big mistake. He apologized and all that,
and he's going to make it right.

Erpenbeck does, in fact, pay off the
liens.

But the Mitchells soon realized that
those are only the first cracks of the

foundation.

Like hundreds of other homebuyers, the
Mitchells discover Erpenbeck never paid

off his original loan.

and that they could again lose their
brand -new house.

We went through hatred.

We went through, we were kind of
hysterical. We were scared.

We were outraged. We were all these
things.

The Mitchells hire attorney Brandon
Volker to take up their case.

This was the actual statement of
mechanics and material men's lien that

the Mitchells received, and ironically,
it was over $100.

Little did they know at the time that it
was substantially more money at issue

with their house other than this $100.

When you bring it down to just its
basics, it's just pure stupidity. It's

theft. It's as simple as some person
walking into a store.

and shoplifting and just walking out
with the item, you know, not even trying

hide it, just carrying it out
triumphantly. I just shoplifted from

essentially what was going on with
Erfenbeck.

Volker begins a class action lawsuit in
the Mitchell's name, but he doesn't go

after Erfenbeck. He sues People's Bank
for allowing Erfenbeck to divert checks

not payable to him into his company's
bank account.

As Volker contacts title agencies and
banks.

Word of the fraud cascades throughout
the home building industry, and

knows the fraud is coming to an end.

Four banks and a title company had
discovered what Bill Erpenbeck was

doing, confronted him about it, and
perhaps he decided that it was in his

interest to come forth to the government
before the government approached him.

When American Greed Returns.

Bill Erpenbeck tries to get ahead of the
fraud's investigation, and he does it

in disgracefully dramatic fashion.

It just seemed like it was out of a mob
movie almost.

Father and son pressuring the daughter
into admitting to crimes that she...

In the early spring of 2002, Bill
Erpenbeck is spiraling deeper into a $69

million fraud.

He's been diverting checks from
homebuyers into his company's bank

are meant to pay off his construction
loans, leaving hundreds of homebuyers

holding the bag for his debt and facing
the possibility of losing their homes.

But the outside world is catching up to
him.

It was about to be discovered because
there was just too many people

him, too many people said he didn't have
the money and time to pay all these

people off.

On March 22, 2002, Erpenbeck decides to
come clean to the government, or his

version of clean, anyway.

Bill Erpenbeck isn't the type of captain
to go down with a ship.

In a conference room at the U .S.
Attorney's Office in Cincinnati, he

Assistant U .S. Attorney Kathleen
Brinkman and FBI Special Agent Kevin

that the fraud was started without his
knowledge by the company accountant.

Laurie Erpenbeck, his sister.

It's a dramatic performance.

He cried a little bit, and he tried to
put it off on his sister that she had a

rough life. Poor Laurie, you know, she
just, I think she just wanted the help.

Laurie Erpenbeck does, in fact, have a
hand in the fraud, but is hardly its

mastermind.

Her role in the fraud was primarily
depositing the checks.

But she can't handle the deceit.

Months before Bill Erpenbeck goes to the
FBI, Lori Erpenbeck leaves the company.

She didn't want to be involved with it
anymore.

She was feeling more and more pressure
to do things she didn't want to do.

Nevertheless, Bill Erpenbeck determines
that Lori needs to take the fall for the

family.

The only girl in the family. And pretty
much we determined it was

treated like dirt for most of her life.

The family dynamic is evident in this
publicity photo of the Erpenbeck

It's the father, Tony, and three of his
sons.

Lori is conspicuously absent.

As the government digs deeper into the
fraud.

Bill Erpenbeck's story seems hollow, and
it becomes clear that Laurie is simply

a scapegoat.

It became apparent to us in looking at
the documents and talking to the other

witnesses that Bill Erpenbeck was
involved in the scheme from the

was a leader of the scheme.

But Erpenbeck is determined to squirm
his way out of the vice.

He recruited bankers John Fennin and
Mark Manning into the fraud.

If blaming his sister doesn't work,
maybe turning in the bankers will.

Well, Bill was working at that point in
time. He was trying to mitigate his

circumstances. So Bill was out to save
Bill.

He turns over recordings of phone
conversations with Fennin and many that

clearly implicate that the bankers know
about the fraud and that what they are

doing is wrong.

It appears that ratting out the bankers
might just work.

He makes a deal with the government. He
pleads guilty to one count of bank

fraud. And in exchange for his
cooperation, the government will pursue

sentence much less than the 30 -year
maximum.

Based on his assistance, making the
tapes with Finnan and many, telling us

involvement of other people, it likely
would have brought him down to 10 years.

But Bill Erpenbeck isn't one to accept a
first offer. He has more tricks up his

sleeve. Bill, in typical Bill Erpenbeck
fashion, figured I can manipulate the

system. And once again, his sister Lori
is the sacrificial lamb.

Days before she is scheduled to testify
at Bill's sentencing hearing in February

of 2004,

Kathleen Brinkman gets some shocking
news from Lori's attorney.

He said, Her father is putting pressure
on her to lie at this upcoming hearing

related to the sentencing of Bill.

The elder Erpenbeck is asking her to
take the stand and the blame.

But Lori has finally had enough.

She agrees to wear a wire and two nights
later meet with her father.

As they drive through the streets of
Covington, Kentucky, five FBI vehicles

follow. listening to the conversation on
a transmitter.

It was rainy.

It was just difficult to follow them.
We'd hoped they would stay in the area.

Fortunately, they did.

Tony drives Lori to the Marriott
Courtyard in Covington, where the stakes

raised. On the top level of the parking
garage, Bill Erpenbeck is waiting.

When Bill got in the car, it was just
the tag team. They're asking for her to

take the fall.

to say it's happened on her watch, that
she caused it.

Quite frankly, from an investigative
standpoint, I don't think we could have

written a better script ourselves.

It was just directing her to do nothing
but lie.

Tony told Lori that we need you to step
up for the family.

Bill can't go to jail. He has three
children that need him.

And, you know, you're single.

more or less throwing Lori under the
bus.

It was very sad.

Finally, the FBI determines they've
heard enough, and five cars swoop in and

encircle the scene of the crime.

And I'll never forget, when I arrested
Bill and went up to him, he got out and

he started crying. He says, I'm going
away for 30 years.

The next day, father and son are
arraigned on obstruction of justice

Two months later, they plead guilty, and
any points Bill had won for cooperation

are now long gone.

Just as he predicted, he's sentenced to
30 years in prison.

Tony Erpenbeck is sentenced to six
years, but it isn't the last we'll hear

Bill Erpenbeck's father.

When American Greed returns.

Tony Erpenbeck wants revenge.

How far is he willing to go?

He described in graphic detail what he
wanted done. It was violent,

violent death that he was calling for.

In the summer of 2004, three members of
the Erpenbeck family sit in prison for

their roles in a $69 million fraud and
its aftermath.

The mastermind, Bill Erpenbeck, is
guilty of bank fraud and obstruction of

justice and is sentenced to 30 years in
prison.

Lori Erpenbeck, his sister, pleads
guilty for her smaller role in the fraud

is sentenced to one year.

And their father, Tony Erpenbeck, is
sentenced by Judge Arthur Spiegel to six

years for obstruction of justice.

after being recorded trying to convince
Laurie to take the blame for the fraud

in order to save Bill.

Tony Lifton died for Bill.

Bill was the all -star in that family,
and he's the one that got the respect

and the attention from the father.

Sixty -nine -year -old Tony Erpenbeck
once reigned over the mighty Erpenbeck

home -building dynasty.

But now...

feeling that both his and his son Bill's
lives are ruined, wants revenge.

In December 2004, Tim Tracy, the FBI
special agent who arrested Tony

on the obstruction charges, received
news that he'll never forget.

After Tony was sentenced for his
obstruction charge and he was

the Lexington medical facility, he had
made...

comment to another inmate about killing
Judge Spiegel, killing Kathy Brinkman,

and kidnapping my children.

The inmate, John Collins, alerts the
authorities and agrees to record further

conversations with Erpenbeck.

Assistant U .S. Attorney Rob Duncan
prosecutes the case.

In the first recording, it's Mr.
Erpenbeck speaking with Collins about...

what he wants done, how he wants it
done. The second conversation is more of

same, but there's more detail. There
seems to be a little bit more of a level

specificity.

In language too profane to repeat,
Erpenbeck tells Collins he wants the

of Attorney Brinkman and Judge Spiegel
mutilated, with body parts cut or shot

off.

His plan for Special Agent Tracy's
children is even more sadistic.

He says he wants the 8 - and 12 -year
-olds buried alive in caskets with a

leading above ground for air and enough
water and crackers to allow them to

survive trapped and terrified
underground for a full two weeks, simply

torture of it.

It's one thing to threaten me. I've had
it happen a few times.

I'm armed. I can take care of myself.

To threaten a family, it's a different
thing.

The inmate, John Collins, leads
Erpenbeck to believe that he is capable

carrying out the threats.

And Erpenbeck lets him know he's
serious.

I talked about price and $500 ,000
payment initially,

and then an additional amount if it
was...

if it was carried out and completed. I
think that is when Mr. Ruppenbach made

the statement about if it takes a
million, it takes a million.

Knowing it will become public, Tracy
decides that he needs to let his

know about the threats.

They were just amazed that someone could
be that mean.

But I didn't tell them everything, but
it eventually was in the newspaper. My

oldest child read it and was pretty
upset.

I mean, had he talked to somebody else
other than Mr. Collins, who knows what

would have happened.

Fortunately, the only thing that happens
is that on April 7, 2005,

Tony Erpenbeck is indicted on seven
counts relating to the plot.

He goes on trial eight months later.

His claim was, I wasn't serious, that I
was afraid of Collins, that I was afraid

of prison life, and that he never
intended to carry out the threats.

It could conceivably be a persuasive
argument until the jury hears the tapes.

I think they resonated.

Certainly, they resulted in, at least in
part, in his convictions.

Tony Erpenbeck is convicted on four
counts of solicitation for threatening

kill a federal judge and federal law
enforcement officer and threatening to

kidnap a federal officer's family
members.

It extends his total prison sentence to
20 years.

Once again, it appears that the
Erpenbecks have no more options, but

be underestimating their demented
creativity.

In the summer of 2009, former home
-building giants Bill and Tony Erpenbeck

in federal prisons, serving out long
sentences for their participation in a

million fraud and its aftermath.

Lori Erpenbeck has served a one -year
sentence for her role in the fraud and

been released.

The Erpenbeck closing agent, Michelle
Marksberry, has pleaded guilty to one

count of bank fraud and serves two
years.

She's also been released.

Bill's brothers, Gary and Jeff
Erpenbeck, are investigated in the fraud

charged.

For the hundreds of homebuyers
represented in Brandon Volker's class

lawsuit against People's Bank, there's
even a happy ending.

The bank, which allowed illegal deposits
into Erpenbeck's account, pays off all

the construction mortgages that
Erpenbeck had left on the homebuyers'

My clients went through a lot, but they
got what they were supposed to have

gotten from day one, their house free
and clear.

It's something Charles and Sherry
Mitchell, the initiators of the suit,

proud of.

I felt good that we not only helped
ourselves, we helped a lot of other

That was a good feeling.

I can only speak for myself.

I mean, I felt good about that.

Unfortunately for Linda Harlow, she is
left dealing with the fallout from

Erpenbeck's fraud for years.

Because Erpenbeck never cleared his
original loan on the construction, The

is burdened with an overwhelming amount
of debt.

It was $240 ,000 on a house that was
worth $142 ,000.

She declares bankruptcy and walks away
from the home.

Sometimes you just can't give a house
away.

I tried to give clear title to my bank.
They couldn't take it. I tried to give

the title back to Urban Beck's lender.

They couldn't take it.

Eventually, she finds recourse by suing
her mortgage company, which she believes

botched the closing by not fulfilling
its responsibility of making sure

Erpenbeck's loan was paid off.

At the end, it was settled favorably in
my case.

You can't get back the frustration.

But, you know, I learned a lot from it.

People's Bank, which is very profitable
before the fraud breaks, can't recover

from the money they owe from the
lawsuits and are eventually sold.

In June 2004, John Fennin and Mark
Minney each plead guilty to three counts

relating to bank fraud and go on to
serve five years and four and a half

respectively.

In all, Bill Erpenbeck leaves behind him
a trail of destruction.

that lands six people in prison for
combined sentences of more than 60 years

defrauds banks, title companies, and
homeowners of more than $60 million.

In November 2005, Erpenbeck talks with a
Cincinnati news station from prison in

Florida to make one last sales pitch for
sympathy.

We all made mistakes.

I did.

John did.

Mark did.

You know, I thought about it a thousand
times since then. If I just would have

thought of one thing, if I just would
have thought of the customer first, and

not thought of everything else.

But four years later, Erpenbeck thinks
he's suffered enough.

In August 2009, hoping to get
consideration for a lesser sentence, he

Special Agent Gormley to tell him about
personal assets that he had kept hidden

during the original investigation.

Gormley heads to the Federal
Correctional Institute in Coleman,

speak to Erpenbeck.

Well, what he told us was that he was
not honest with me when he talked to me

the beginning.

What a surprise.

But what he told me is that he gave
money to Steve Skidmore.

Steve Skidmore was Erpenbeck's friend
and next -door neighbor in 2002 when

Erpenbeck was first under investigation.

And now he's been sold out.

Skidmore bought the house of former
Erpenbeck neighbor Glenn Fagan when

moved in 1999.

Bill was one of those guys that would
hone in on somebody.

There was always somebody who was
rotating out of the cycle, putting under

wing, and taking along for the ride.

But rides with Erpenbeck have a way of
getting bumpy.

In prison in Florida, Erpenbeck tells
Special Agent Gormley a story from back

2002.

He said he went golfing with Steve
Skidmore and they talked in the car.

And he said, hey, I've got the money.

I don't know what to do with it. And
Steve offered to add it for him.

Erpenbeck tells Gormley that the money
is zipped away in an Erpenbeck company

soft -sided cooler.

that he doesn't know what Skidmore did
with it.

Gormley heads back to Kentucky and
crafts a plan to pry the secret out of

Skidmore. The special agent enlists
Bill's brother, Jeff Erpenbeck, to wear

wire and tell Skidmore that the
Erpenbecks are desperate for cash and

know where he's hidden the money.

Steve Skidmore finally admitted after
some time that, okay, this is legit.

I need to get this money to Bill.

He tells Jeff Erpenbeck he buried it on
the golf course behind his house, 46

paces off the third tee box.

Within the week, the FBI starts digging.

Here's the third hole, the golf course,
really 46 paces from here.

But agents soon begin to doubt that X
marks the spot.

It's been years, and a lot has changed.
So that landscape and the roots have

grown over, so it's really some tough
digging.

After five long hours of digging, one of
the agents finally spots the corner of

a $100 bill.

And I almost didn't believe it, because
we had been out there for so long

digging. And sure enough, we could see
remnants of a cooler.

The agents unearthed the same soft
-sided Erpenbeck company cooler that

Erpenbeck had described.

Could this be the remnants of
Erpenbeck's $69 million scam?

It was in horrible condition when we
found it. It was wet, it was damp, it

torn up, and there was nothing done to
protect the integrity of the case or the

funds.

Nevertheless, the agents are able to
salvage enough pieces to send to the

Department of the Treasury.

And they received back a check for $257
,611.

Skidmore, who had previously told
Gormley he knew nothing about hidden

charged with making false statements to
a federal agent. His excuse is sadly

naive. I just said he did it for Bill.

It was just, again, blind loyalty.

He was furious.

And in a way, I understand his
frustration.

He didn't take any of the funds.

You know, it can only be filed under the
category of no good deed goes

unpunished. You know, he wasn't involved
with Bill in any way, shape or form

other than a drinking buddy and a golf
buddy and thought he was doing Bill a

favor.

Skidmore pleads guilty and is sentenced
to 16 months in prison.

Bill Erpenbeck's betrayal is all for
nothing.

He doesn't get a single day taken off
his sentence.

He only accomplishes landing one more
friend in prison.

Steve Skidmore would not be in prison if
it were not for Bill Erpenbeck.

Laurie Erpenbeck would not be in prison.

Michelle Marksbury would not have gone
to prison.

I don't think the bankers would have
gone to prison without Bill Erpenbeck.

Erpenbeck is still scheduled to be
released in 2025.

But with Bill Erpenbeck, You never know
what might happen.

I don't think we've heard the last.
There's probably something else going to

come up. This is a case that never ends.

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