All language subtitles for American Greed s07e09 Talk Radio Takedown.eng

In this episode of American Greed,
Trevor Cook claims to have a

new way to trade foreign currency with
guaranteed profit.

Investments were safe and protected and
in segregated accounts.

I am here to give you solutions to this
massive fiscal pollution that everyone

in this country is experiencing without
exception.

And more than 700 investors roll over
their life savings.

This is very impressive.

He's invested overseas, so therefore it
isn't taxed. Oh my goodness, this is too

good to be true, isn't it? But no one
knows that Cook and his partners are

conmen by day who turn their historic
mansion into a den of debauchery by

He enjoyed all the wealth he could
steal.

Until the feds ask a straight -laced
banker to go undercover.

Can he help catch the thieves?

Somehow they had merged into some
conglomerate of fraud and scumbaggery.

In downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, the
Van Dusen Mansion was built in the late

1800s by a baron of the grain industry.

Made of hand -carved quartzite, it
appears solid, steady, and built for the

ages.

Exactly the image its newest owner wants
to project.

He is one of the nation's leading money
managers. Please welcome Trevor Cook.

Trevor Cook acts like a modern -day
magnet.

A top trader in the high -risk, high
-reward world of foreign currency

The story begins with Cook playing the
role of local boy made good.

But there were warning signs early on.

Trevor Cook was an average student, went
to the University of Minnesota,

graduated with a degree in economics,
who was like a bull in a china shop. He

had an alcohol problem. He ran sports
numbers well in college.

After college, looking to make big money
fast, Cook goes to work for a

Minneapolis gold coin dealership.

He was a largely unsuccessful coin
dealer and sort of bounced around jobs

was not particularly successful in any
way.

Until he hit upon this currency exchange
program in the early 2000s.

Then his career takes a big jump.

Within five years, Cook goes from small
-time coin dealer to big -shot currency

trader.

Cook partners with former co -workers
from the coin dealership. And by 2008,

they set up shop at the Van Dusen
Mansion.

They call themselves the Oxford Group.

And they play up their new headquarters
to the hilt. They would hold seminars at

the mansion to try and entice people to
invest in this foreign currency exchange

program that Trevor would pitch.

Dozens of potential investors are bussed
in each week through brokers and

partner firms. Under his Universal
Brokerage Service, or UBS, Cook claims

be a worldwide leader in the highly
complex game of foreign currency

If you get out a Webster's Dictionary
and you look up arbitrage in the

dictionary, it means a transaction that
can extract profits

with no risk from an inefficiency in the
marketplace.

The strategy is complex and confusing.

Cook claims to have invested in a
revolutionary new software program that

tiny percentages from international
banks converting foreign currencies

thousands of times a day.

The key to how we execute arbitrage is
largely technology based.

Cook says that the principle invested
with his program is guaranteed safe and

encourages attendees to go all in.

rolling over their IRAs, 401ks, and
other retirement accounts.

We also always keep liquidity.

It's another big thing I recommend is
stay away from investments that are not

liquid. You know, what good is your
money if you can't get at it?

They made these representations
consistently in terms of principal

double -digit returns on their
investments.

dealing with sophisticated banks and
countries, and that their investments

safe and protected and that they were
always liquid so that the investor could

obtain them 24 hours a day, seven days a
week.

Cook comes off as a down -to -earth
Minnesotan who happens to be a financial

whiz. His disfiguring scar is said to be
the result of a high school hockey

injury.

And it doesn't hurt his ability to close
deals.

He and his partners are able to pull in
nearly $200 million in capital for more

than 700 investors.

Cook's partners in the Oxford Group
include licensed stockbroker Bo Beckman

a former professional wrestler turned
coin dealer Jerry Duran. They each have

role to play at the investment seminars.

And they would have Bo come up as sort
of this super successful financial

services guy, and he would lay out his
pitch for his handling their money.

So I started at Merrill. I ran money
there. I ran money at Ernest from

I ran money at Wells Fargo.

And I'm a senior portfolio manager for
the Oxford for a large cap core.

I believe the market is here and exists
to do this. Take as much from as many

for as long as it can.

Jerry Durand would come up and he would
introduce some of the younger sales

staff that would then go mingle among
the people who were having dinner and

drinks and whatnot, and then invite them
to invest in the program.

You're going to learn how you can create
wealth and survive your

wealth. But the Oxford Group also has
another marketing strategy, one that has

the potential to reach millions of
people.

Talk radio.

Welcome. America to the broadcast Follow
the Money with Pat Kiley.

Pat Kiley is a partner whose radio show
airs on more than 200 stations around

the country and is a funnel for bringing
in new investor capital into Trevor

Cook's program.

In a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, 55
-year -old Curtis Harvey is hearing good

things about the show from a friend.

He said, you know, I've been listening
to this guy, Pat Kiley.

I started listening, and that's what
encouraged me to do that.

And he said, I feel pretty comfortable.
The returns look very good up to this

point from what I can tell.

Harvey is intrigued but doesn't want to
make a hasty move.

He's been a protective coating salesman
for 30 years.

He works hard, makes a good living, and
contributes to his IRA.

But he'd love to get better returns.

I am here. to give you solutions to this
massive fiscal pollution that everyone

in this country is experiencing without
exception.

I listened to Pat probably for six,
eight weeks, and a lot of what Pat

up was safety, security, and integrity
and

honesty and things like that, and you
need to secure your money.

For 22 years, we have worked with
various countries, governments, and

currencies, and the global bank interest
rates.

He said that while the principal is
segregated, you'd make like an 8 to 10

percent swing.

He said some months it might bump to 12
and some it might drop to 7. But he said

it's a consistent 8 to 10 range.

So I invested.

Harvey decides to roll over $120 ,000
from his IRA and over the next year adds

another $80 ,000.

After getting his initial statements, he
believes he's made a sound decision.

It looked like there was growth taking
place.

There were some parts they had where it
showed a linear growth, an upward curve.

It would be incremental, small amounts,
not big. I didn't want to get rich

quick. I just wanted some steady growth.

was secure and safe.

Next on American Greed, investors
believe that their money, like the Van

mansion, is being cared for by
respectable businessmen, if they only

Prostitutes regularly visited, as did
strippers.

Drug use, drinking, prostitution,
anything happened there.

In 2008, Trevor Cook appears to be a
master of the universe.

From his grand historic mansion in
downtown Minneapolis, he claims to run a

billion hedge fund, raking in guaranteed
profits from a foreign currency trading

program.

More than 700 people from around the
country have invested, including senior

citizen Betty Wager.

who learns of the program through Cook's
partner, Pat Kiley, and his talk radio

show, Follow the Money.

You couldn't help but just want to
listen, and he was on for a whole hour

Sunday morning from 7 to 8 o 'clock, and
I'd lay there in bed before I had to

get up and go to church, and I'd listen
to him.

I'm the senior partner of an
international investment banking firm.

And we are not connected in any way to
stocks, bonds, and all of the rest.

He would talk about how awful it was
that the government taxed every penny we

made. And I thought, wow, and I've got
an investment with a company right now.

And, you know, when I get the printout
in the mail.

Anything that I've invested has a minus
sign in front of it. And I'm going, I've

got to call them and see what's going on
because I really don't understand

investing money.

Wager has been retired from the phone
company Quest since 1992.

She lives on a pension and Social
Security income.

She bought her house with an inheritance
left to her by her parents.

The rest, about $50 ,000.

She is invested with a brokerage firm.

But listening to Pat Kiley, she begins
to rethink where she placed her nest

He sounded very convincing, let me tell
you.

No more taxing your money. It's invested
overseas, so therefore it isn't

taxed. After listening for several
months, Betty and her daughter Betsy

to meet with Kiley in person.

He struts in there just like a
celebrity, you know, and he sits down at

desk. And we talked for over an hour.

The longer you sit there with him, the
better it sounds.

What can I say?

On the way home, I said to Betsy, you
know, I feel good about this investment

and that it wouldn't be taxed and that
when I needed some.

maybe for a new furnace or an air
conditioner for my home, I would have

money. And I thought, this is right
where I have to be with this investment.

And that's what I did.

Betty invests her $50 ,000 in
inheritance.

And for a time, she believed she made a
great choice.

After all, she has promised there is no
way she could lose it.

Every two weeks, I'd call and ask, how
is my money doing?

And he'd say, just fine.

Just fine.

You need money today?

No, I don't need money today. But I just
thought I'd see and he'd say, no, just

remember what I said.

Have a good day.

Wager, like hundreds of others, simply
trusts that the investment program is

legitimate. But while they may appear to
be highly successful,

Trevor Cook and his cohorts are not
actually making any profits.

They are spending hard -earned investor
capital on whatever they like.

Cook spends $3 million on the mansion
itself, using it as a showpiece by day.

And after hours, a shameful din of
debauchery that Betty Waker's life

should have had no part in funding.

Well, the mansion at night was an
entirely different place.

There were big parties there. Thousands
of dollars' worth of booze were consumed

there. Trevor Cook would pass out in his
chair, wet himself.

He was falling down drunk.

Drug use, drinking, prostitution,
anything happened there.

One night, Trevor, in order to impress a
stripper that he had picked up, bet

$500 ,000 on a football game and lost.

Not the kind of place where you would
want your mother or grandmother to go to

invest their life savings.

Former employees report that not all of
the partners are partaking in the

bacchanal. But they are all spending
their so -called profits, with Trevor

leading the way.

He bought the mansion to make it look
like they were this huge successful

operation. But he was also spending
money trying to make money because he

he was losing so much money. He was a
gambler.

And this investment scheme was pretty
much a gamble. He was not making trades

these guys were promising.

It wasn't safe. It wasn't hedged. He was
buying oil, commodities.

Things that the investors had no idea
what was going on. I think Mr. Cook also

enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle while he
was performing this fraud and enjoyed

the wealth he could steal.

Cook spends his money on high -end items
that suggest wealth and class.

Fabergé eggs, Rolex watches, and luxury
sports cars.

But the real Trevor Cook is neither
wealthy nor classy, and he does a poor

of pretending to be.

He had a Jägermeister tap and a couple
of beer taps and there was a lot of

bottles all over the place. In his
private bathroom, he had all these

from gangster movies, Al Pacino and the
like.

He was a real fan of Scarface, you know,
and the gangster life.

In line with his wannabe gangster
persona, Trevor Cook decides to take a

in the casino business and shells out
$13 million for a piece of property in

Central America.

He got into a Panama casino deal. I
think it was all in hopes of making it

and being able to, you know, actually
get some money since he was losing so

in this trading.

Cook isn't the only one spending on
whatever he sees fit.

His partner, Bo Beckman, the licensed
financial advisor of the outfit, prefers

to spend his millions on real estate and
other amenities.

He had very lavish homes in a variety of
places.

He had cars. He had country clubs. He
had a variety of different accoutrements

that goes with actual success.

In reality, this wasn't based on his own
success, but based on the sales to

investors to turn over money, which was
then converted for his own use.

In 2008, Beckman even attempts to
purchase a stake in the NHL hockey team,

Minnesota Wild.

Attempting to buy the NHL team was an
effort to provide legitimacy to him and

indicate that he was a real business
person, when in fact the entire bid was

premised on a fraud.

Pat Kiley is the only one that appears
to live frugally. But in reality, he's

spending millions of dollars to produce
and expand his radio show, which in turn

brings in two -thirds of the investors.

Next on American Green.

Trevor Cook tries to recruit a local
investment banker into his scheme, but

picks the wrong guy.

This was not only fraud, but it was
populated by guys who had been involved

fraud for years.

Somehow they had merged into some
conglomerate of fraud and scumbaggery.

In late 2008, Trevor Cook's Oxford Group
is hemorrhaging money.

Cook is losing tens of millions of
dollars in illegal gambling and risky

commodities trades, all while telling
his investors their principle is

protected.

Trevor Cook and the others really sold
him on how safe this investment was, and

they got a lot of investors to pretty
much give all of their savings.

Things get decidedly worse when Cook
decides to partner with a shady

international firm.

They had invested in a business called
Crown Forex over in Switzerland.

In 2008, they became patently aware that
it was highly illiquid and that they

were going to have difficulty getting
their money out. They had already

significant losses through their trading
program that lost millions and tens of

millions of dollars.

Cook is in need of a huge infusion of
capital to keep his operation running.

And that's where Ty Schlobom comes in.

In 2009, Schlobom is managing director
of a Minneapolis investment bank.

His clients are large institutional
investors.

One day, he gets a cold call from Trevor
Cook.

Somehow, Trevor and his team became
aware of me and the services I provided.

So they contacted me to see if I could.

be a conduit to institutional capital.

Within a couple of days, Slobom is
headed to the Van Dusen mansion in

Minneapolis.

It was a very ornate, old, historic
mansion. In Trevor's office, which was

the very top floor, it was a large
office filled with trading screens and

computers and such. And Trevor began to
opine on what his strategy was, which

was in the fixed income slash currency
arbitrage game.

My first impression was that I had never
heard of this before, but he was

offering a guaranteed risk -free rate of
return of 12%. That is a number that is

very attractive. So I obviously
entertained the thought of what the heck

doing. As Schlobom carefully listens,
Trevor Cook lays out the details of his

investment program.

The strategy that Trevor said he
employed was doing something called a

carry trade.

A carry trade is basically borrowing
securities in a low -interest -rate

and using those funds to buy currency in
a higher -earning -interest -rate

country. Shalobo knows the carry trade
as one of the riskiest financial

out there.

They describe the carry trade as picking
up pennies in front of a bulldozer.

But Trevor's strategy, or often the
story he would tell, was that he would

able to fully hedge out the risk through
his relationships with Middle Eastern

banks. Cook says he is able to get
interest -free loans from Middle Eastern

banks that are compliant with Sharia
law, which states that banks cannot

interest. I understand Sharia
compliance, whereas they see charging

interest as usury and not allowed within
the compliance of their religion or

ideology.

For years, this has been Trevor Cook's
pitch. And the unsophisticated investors

he targets have eaten it up.

perhaps without fully understanding the
plan.

But now Cook has met his match.

Ty Schlobom understands exactly what
Cook is saying. He just doesn't believe

My initial thoughts were that this makes
no sense. My experience having done

business in the Middle East is that in
lieu of taking interest payments, they

usually take an equity ownership in the
firm, or they find some way to monetize

their lack of interest that they're
having. I certainly asked, well, why

they offer you?

these hundreds of millions, conceivably
dollars, of use of their capital for no

revenue. And that's where the story
became a little elaborate and highly

inconsistent.

Schlobom leaves the mansion uncertain
about what he has stumbled upon and

decides to do some more research into
Oxford's head honcho, Trevor Cook.

He said he's managing $4 billion, which
at the time in 2009 would have put him

in, you know, top 25 largest hedge funds
in the world. And I never had heard of

him once.

But he was registered on the NFA.

So when I looked him at the NFA, I could
see that he had spent most of his time

as a coin dealer.

Schlobom doesn't stop there.

He digs deeper into Oxford's supposed
investment strategy and the backgrounds

the principal partners Bo Beckman, Jerry
Durand, and Pat Kiley.

I made some calls into colleagues that
were quite the experts in foreign

exchange and foreign exchange arbitrage,
and I could not find anyone that had

even heard of this so -called trade.

I looked into the infrastructure and the
backgrounds of all the individuals

there, and they were checkered, to say
the least. I saw many individuals with

regulatory marks in their background.

Empirically, the returns were not only
improbable, but impossible.

Very quickly, Ty Schlobom begins to
believe the program is a fraud.

And so this banker, husband and father
of two small children, faces a life

-changing decision.

Does he simply walk away, say no thank
you, and leave the Oxford Group for

someone else to deal with?

Or does he do something?

My first thought was, God, this is so
bad. Don't walk away, run.

And make sure, you know, you never...

find something as slimy as that again.

But Slobom's deciding factor comes down
to the investors, a room full of whom he

sees at a seminar during his very first
visit to the mansion.

My observation quite quickly was that
these were financially unsophisticated

individuals, what appeared to be elderly
people without a lot of financial

resources. And my observation was it was
70 -plus people with a nest egg under

six figures that were investing.

When American greed returns, the
straight -laced banker goes undercover

crime -stopping mission.

I'm jettisoned from being an investment
management financial service employee,

and now I'm trying to be a junior G -man
and get the smoking gun.

In March 2009, investment banker Ty
Schlobom presents a case to Minneapolis

Assistant U .S. Attorney Joe Dixon about
what he believes to be an outright scam

involving the Oxford Group's foreign
currency program.

This was 100 % without any doubt a Ponzi
scheme. I couldn't walk away and do

nothing. He was an investment advisor
himself, and the story that was being

to investors simply didn't make a lot of
sense.

The group is headed by Trevor Cook, who
reached out to Schlobom as a possible

conduit to large institutional
investors.

Now Schlobom wants the feds to shut Cook
down.

But before they can act, the U .S.
Attorney's Office needs to know more.

What was important to us was to
understand what exactly was being told

investors. Because in a fraud
investigation, at least from a criminal

perspective, there's two components. One
is, what are investors told?

It's going to happen with their money.
And the other thing is, what's actually

happening with their money?

My expectation was they were going to
give me a pat on the head and send me

with a lollipop and say, you know, good
job. We appreciate the tip. And that was

not the case. They asked me if I'd help.

So very quickly, I said, I have to think
about this.

Ultimately, Schlobom decides that he
wants to do everything he can to put

out of business as soon as possible.

And so the gears begin turning on a case
that takes him from the rarefied air of

high finance to the gritty world of
criminal investigation.

They wanted me to collect evidence, both
audio and video evidence, of what they

were saying and what they were doing to
basically cross the T's and dot the I's

on what was actually the fraud.

I also tried to engender myself to
Trevor.

and hoping that they would offer and let
down their guard and say, you want in

on this.

The FBI wires him up with undercover
audio and video equipment and sends him

back to Oxford's headquarters at the Van
Dusen mansion.

It is pretty surreal.

I'm trying to gather information. I'm
trying to get them talking.

I'm asking them a host of questions, and
it's all recording.

It's exciting. It's really nervous.

It's just a situation that you're ready
to wake up from.

But in the back of my head, I kept
timing, so this is the right thing to

Schlobaum spends an increasing amount of
time at the mansion and secretly

records several investment seminars.

I'm seeing a marketing factory in terms
of quantity of potential investors that

they're drawing into this place. It's
high.

And they seem to have enough swagger
that they're bringing in a high hit

in terms of closing business.

In this seminar video, filmed for
promotional purposes, Trevor Cook

explain to potential investors his
foreign currency arbitrage program.

The key to how we execute arbitrage is
largely technology -based.

A lot of times they said that their big
secret to their success was this

technology company which was based in
Switzerland.

If you were to just look up and or even
Google their name, you can see that

they're in as close to financial default
as possible because their software,

lack thereof, was totally ineffective.

But their success, if I can even use
that word, was they would make it so

complicated because they would not be
consistent with their stories that

again, they'd have to just take sort of
a leap of faith.

While federal agencies work together to
methodically build their case,

Ty Schlobom is spending less time at his
actual job.

And he doesn't feel good about receiving
a salary while keeping his employer in

the dark.

He decides to make yet another personal
and professional sacrifice.

choosing to resign and focus full -time
on the undercover operation.

It's probably not the best story to come
home with to your wife that you quit

your job and that you are undercover
informant trying to take down a Ponzi

scheme that will have absolutely no
reward and is fraught with risk.

But my wife was supportive and was on
the same plane in terms of doing

something that was right.

in a time when a lot of things were
going wrong in the financial industry.

This is the dog and pony show. You would
have a number of inconsistent stories

coming from them. But after four months,
Schlobom is ready to be done with his

secret assignment.

I'm nervous of something falling out of
my pocket or a camera head being

exposed.

I'm certainly wondering, what the hell
am I going to do if that does happen?

Am I going to run? Am I going to, you
know, get killed?

So I definitely didn't want to get
caught doing what I was doing.

But investigators are still relying on
their man inside to provide key

information. You have to have really
good probable cause to shut something

that down. So it's not...

Just one person going in and coming back
and saying, yep, it's fraudulent. Let's

shut it down. It's not that easy.

Next on American Greed, the feds figure
out exactly how the bad guys are

operating. And it's the beginning of the
end for Trevor Cook.

They said things are happening quickly
now. And on this day, can you arrange to

make sure that Trevor Cook is at this
location?

Find out more about Trevor Cook's
depraved decadence at AmericanGreed

.com. Want inside information from the
show?

Join the Greed social network.

Like us on American Greed's Facebook
page. We'll be right back.

In 2009...

Trevor Cook's Oxford Group is running
into trouble from all sides.

Multiple federal agencies are
investigating them for civil and

prosecution.

Then, in July, a group of Ohio investors
decides they want to take several

million dollars out of the fund. When
they can't get their money back, they

It was a combination of the civil
lawsuit by investors starting to ask

questions about where their money was
and how it was invested, along with the

efforts by the Department of Justice and
the SEC and the CFTC really sort of

caused a real bright spotlight onto this
business, which caused the collapse of

the organization.

The feds decide it's time to move in.

And once again, they tap their
confidential informant, Ty Schlobom, for

They began to tell me that things were
going to proceed quite rapidly and to

have organized or scheduled Trevor to be
in the mansion at this time on this

specific date.

We also diagrammed the matrix of the
interior of the building as well.

On the day of the raid, investigators
know exactly how to get to Trevor Cook's

office and keep him there for
questioning.

They also collect hundreds of thousands
of documents and files.

including phony statements that were
regularly sent to investors.

The paper statements were made in
-house.

They were basically done by simple math.

If you had $100 ,000 invested and you
were promised 12%, you got your $1 ,200

month, added on to your account
statement, and then mailed to you.

Investigators are tasked with tracking
down and speaking to more than 700

investors scattered across the country.

One of those is Betty Waker, who first
learned of the investigation from the

press.

I can't believe this.

These guys are a bunch of crooks. I
couldn't believe this in a million

that this could happen to me.

And yet I couldn't say, I'm so dumb,
because I'm not dumb.

I knew what I was doing. My eyes were
open.

But it was such a great, big, beautiful
lie that we couldn't see through.

The grandmother has no choice but to
accept her fate as a victim of fraud.

What do you say? What do you do? What
can you do?

Pray. There's nothing left.

It's gone.

The average investor lost about $200
,000.

The median...

was about a $100 ,000 investment, and
half of those people lost their entire

life savings.

So we're not talking about big
institutions or sophisticated parties.

talking about regular people who were
scared about the economy, were scared

about their investment options, and
really trusted people.

1 ,100 miles away, near Atlanta,
Georgia, Kurt Harvey is happy that he

invested. $200 ,000 of his retirement
savings in hopes of a bright future.

He is blissfully unaware that the walls
are closing in on the Oxford Group until

he tries to reach them about rolling
over his wife's 401K as well.

I left message after message, no answer.

I started to get worried. I was
traveling at the time, and so I made a

more phone calls.

And when I got to my hotel that night, I
tried to go on the website, and the

website was shut down already. And all
of these different blogs came up and

reviews came up, and it was run and
hide, take your money before, don't

it's a scam, the whole thing.

And right then is when, you know, I lost
it, just lost it.

It's not long before Harvey confirms the
worst.

Much of his life savings is gone.

Panic, just sick to my stomach.

Definitely had to make several trips to
the restroom.

It was just so upsetting to know that
I'd lost that much money.

And to, I think I felt, you feel
betrayed when you're duped by someone

thought you could trust.

While Harvey and hundreds of other
victims are left reeling, a team of

agencies is figuring out where the money
went.

And a federal judge assigns a receiver
to seize the assets of the Oxford Group.

$190 million was taken in from
investors.

Approximately $50 million of that was
returned to investors in what I call

lulling payments.

So payments to investors that suggest to
them that there's reality here, that

there's profits that are being made.

and gives them comfort that their
investments are safe.

But a lot of the money was sent to
various banks, both domestically and

for the purpose of these currency
investments.

The high -risk currency investments and
tens of millions of dollars were

actually lost in these currency
investments.

About $25 million was sent to the Swiss
company called Crown Forex and then

disappeared.

So where did the money from Crown Forex
go? The Swiss government is

investigating and has been since this
broke.

No one seems to be saying where that
money went.

Another $13 million went to Trevor
Cook's Panama casino deal.

And Cook and his partners also spent
about $30 million on themselves.

Cars, houses, all of which ultimately
was recovered by the receiver and sold

auction. The receiver is able to recoup
less than $15 million, which means

pennies on the dollar return to the more
than 700 investors who lost a total of

nearly $150 million.

When American Greed returns, instead of
cooperating with the receiver as he

agrees to, Trevor Cook is still lying
and trying to stash as much loot for

himself as he can.

They found some money hidden in a
locker. They found some money hidden in

In November 2009, accused fraud
mastermind Trevor Cook agrees to

turn his assets over to a court
-appointed receiver, but they find out

still lying.

Mr. Cook evaded that receivership and
defied the court order, and ultimately

was put in jail for failing to follow
the court orders regarding his assets.

We had received a call that the Mall of
America had...

found two duffel bags containing a bunch
of foreign currency and a bunch of gold

coins. They proceeded to put a camera on
the lockers to see who shows up to get

it. The next day, a known associate of
Trevor Cook's comes to collect the

contents of the locker and gives Cook
up.

Trevor Cook also fails a lie detector
test and eventually leads agents to his

brother's home, where they find another
stash hidden in baseboards in the

basement. $100 bills, gold and silver
coins, collectible watches and sports

memorabilia totaling more than $400
,000.

Trevor Cook sees the writing on the
wall.

He's got no other play.

So he decides to plead guilty to charges
of tax evasion and mail fraud.

For his lack of cooperation, a federal
judge sentences Cook to the maximum, 25

years. But the judge still doesn't
believe that Cook has revealed

Judge Rosenbaum warned Trevor.

He said, if you have any inklings that
when you get out, you're going to go and

find some money and live well for the
rest of your life, get over it, because

we're going to be watching you the rest
of your life.

It takes another two years for
investigators to build their cases

Cook's partners, Bo Beckman, Jerry
Duran, and Pat Kiley.

A fourth partner, Chris Pettengill,
cooperates with prosecutors and gets a

reduced sentence of seven and a half
years.

The other three go to trial and all are
found guilty on more than 10 counts of

fraud. On January 3rd, 2013, Betty
Wigert is in the federal courtroom when

men are sentenced for stealing her $50
,000 inheritance.

It is the most trying experience for
just someone like me to sit there in

room and listen to them lie.

before the judge and get on their knees
and cry.

Bo Beckman couldn't even breathe. He was
crying so hard before the judge to go

lenient on him and have mercy on him.
And then Jerry Duran's daughter, oh, my

father has always taught us to be
honest.

I said, oh, yeah, right.

Too bad he wasn't.

And so it was quite a day, quite a day.

The judge then sentences Bo Beckman to
30 years and Jerry Duran to 20 years.

74 -year -old Pat Kiley's sentencing
date is delayed due to his health.

Joe Dixon believes that the stiff
sentences represent a title shift in the

punishment of white -collar criminals.

I think... People are starting to
recognize the devastation that financial

can have on people's lives. The fraud in
this case wasn't just one person. It

was hundreds of people.

And we're talking about unsophisticated
elderly people.

And so the fraud was really heinous in
lots of respects and deserved very

significant sentences.

Now, Betty Wager gets by on her pension
and Social Security income.

She has no savings and no cushion.

I watch every penny I spend.

Every penny. You have to.

I just keep saying every day, Lord,
don't let my refrigerator break down.

Lord, don't let me lose my furnace or
have it stop because that can be

expensive.

Don't let my water pipes freeze because
it's zero outside.

Retirement was good for a while.

I don't know how they live with
themselves.

Knowing what happened to these people,
families were broken up, homes were

people don't go to the doctor when they
need it. These guys had no compunction

whatsoever about taking money from old
people who needed it and spending it on

prostitutes and gambling.

Sixty -year -old Kurt Harvey is in
better shape than a lot of the elderly

investors, but he and his wife still
feel the pain of being victimized.

I had planned to retire much sooner.

I'm going to be working probably an
extra nine years to make up that

And the way the market is nowadays, that
nine years might end up being work

until you die.

And I hope I never see them on the
public street.

Ever. Ever.

To date, the Harveys have recouped just
$5 ,500 of their $200 ,000 loss.

There is still money unaccounted for,
about $2 .4 million, and as many rumors,

it seems, about where it might be.

The most dramatic is one that involves
Trevor Cook and the purchase of a secret

submarine. They were never able to
substantiate that, and he later said,

that was all a lie, even though he said
in an email, I just bought a sub.

And so people wonder, you know, is that
money sunk in a sub somewhere?

Is it someplace that Trevor can get it
when he gets out? According to the IRS,

the most plausible theory is that Cook
and his cohort simply partied the money

away. Well, any time you take cash out
of the bank, it's pretty much gone from

there. It's hard to track. We knew they
spent lots and lots of money having

parties at the mansion, outside the
mansion, bringing parties.

back to the mansion. But for the most
part, out of the $190 -some million,

a small percentage of money that we
can't trace.

Ty Schlobom, the undercover informant
who first identified the fraud and

it to the authorities, now works in
finance for U .S. Trust.

He believes there's a lesson in this
story that should resonate with other

professionals in the industry.

I hope there's any takeaway to this.
It's that people within the industry

fiduciary responsibility to the
financial services industry.

And I hope my story motivates people to
not be so passive in their role in

discovering and or assisting in the
closure of France.

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